Table of Contents

Preface
My Dream Neighborhoods

FALL
1. Esperando la Lluvia:Waiting for Rain
2. Birdsong Ripens Berries, Wind Brings the Seeds
3. The Keynote Bird: Creating Habitat through Focus on a Single Species
4. I Live in a Quail Yard: A Garden Designed with Quail in Mind
5. The Keynote Plant: Rules of Thumb for Garden Design
6. Sing Willow
7. The Landscaping Ideas of Jays
8. In Praise of the Unleaving: Deciduous Trees and Shrubs for the California Gardener

WINTER
9. Eating the Rain
10. Eternal Vigilance: Featuring Bermuda Buttercup
11. Rain-time Reading
12. Supreme Advocate for California’s Native Plants: Lester Rowntree
13. Bright Were Her Days: Edith Van Allen Murphey
14. An Inordinate Number of Good Things: Gerda Isenberg
15. Forest Gardens: The Lessons of Coarse Woody Debris

SPRING
16. The Flower Dance in Modern Times
17. The Weed Dance in Modern Times
18. Do You Talk to Plants?
19. Rock Knows: Features for the Restoration Garden
20. Where’s the Clover? The Real California Cuisine

SUMMER
21. Saying Farewell to Spring: Growing Site-Specific Clarkias
22. The Preservation of Small Things
23. The Pollinators of Small Things
24. Animal Assistants
25. Celebrations from the Native Plant Palette
26. Fog Flower: Four Guidelines for Backyard Restoration Gardeners
27. Scale Is All: Large Shrubs and Small Trees

THE FIFTH SEASON
28. The Quiet Time
29. The Berry Harvest
30. Paths and Trails: Making Our Way through the Restoration Garden
31. Everything’s Here: The Late Summer Riches of the Pond Scum Production Area
32. Life Is Maintenance

Coda: We Are Not the First

Acknowledgments
Notes
Recommended Reading
Index