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Gardening with a Wild Heart: Restoring California's Native Landscapes at Home | 
 enlarge | Author: Judith Larner Lowry
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy Used: $2.15
You Save: $19.80 (90%)
New (5) Used (22) from $2.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 817294
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 280
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0520215176
Dewey Decimal Number: 635.951794
EAN: 9780520215177
ASIN: 0520215176
Publication Date: January 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This lyrical and articulate mix of the practical and the poetic combines personal story, wildland ecology, restoration gardening practices, and native plant horticulture. Judith Lowry's voice and experiences make a rich matrix for essays that include discussions of wildflower gardening, the ecology of native grasses, wildland seed-collecting, principles of natural design, and plant/animal interactions. Though this book is based on California gardens, readers from all parts of the country will be inspired and informed by these examples of gardening to include "the larger garden beyond the fence."
Gardening with a Wild Heart promises to be a classic for lovers of nature writing, gardeners, bioregionalists, and students and professionals in horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Love, love, loved it! October 31, 2008
This is a must read for garden designers, gardeners and naturalists alike. Judith Larner not only shares her infectious passion, but also gives practical information on how to create the type of garden that will endure climate change and provide habitat for the critters that will need our help to survive , as well. She makes a loving and thoughtful case for the need to adopt a new sustainable landscape paradigm.
 Not enough April 12, 2005
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I was dissapointed when I recieved this book in the mail. I was expecting a native gardening guide book, with perhaps some photos of native plants, descriptions of how natives can be used in the garden and such. Instead I recieved a book warning of the enormous dangers of planting exotic, non native species in one's back yard. The book is heart felt and well written. If you are not convinced that planting natives is the way to go, you will be after reading this book. Unfortunatly, you probably won't be much further along in knowing how or which or where.
A book every California gardener should read January 10, 2004
31 out of 31 found this review helpful
A Californian living overseas, I happened to find this book while looking for ideas for a piece of property I own in California. Initially I had "cottage garden" in mind; later, my thinking evolved to more exotic tropical plants. This wonderful book was the first step in my complete conversion to the native plant movement. California is an ecological "island" with an incredible richness of native plants: 6,000 species, of which something like 2,000 live nowhere else. Yet these have been decimated by exotic weeds, development and large-scale agriculture. We should be proud of the native California plants that are now prized by landscapers and gardeners all over the world: the redwood, douglas fir, monterey pine, lilac, and all wildflowers especially the poppy, our State Flower (to name but a few). Yet despite the growing momentum of the native plant movement in the state, many gardeners are indifferent to the debate. Look for the tufted 6-foot stalks of pampas grass as you drive around California: this aggressive invader from Peru is still being planted by gardeners and landscapers. Consider that eight million acres in the state (and growing) are covered with yellow star thistle, another exotic weed. Aggressive non-native plants out-compete natives (even to the point of extinction) and contribute to the decline of the environment, often in the form of soil erosion. The most important lesson from this thought-provoking book is that we are interconnected, and the decisions we take on our postage-stamp properties affect the entire environment. We can make a difference. What we do on our little plots can do a lot to restore the ecological well-being of the entire state. As we see the birds and other animals - creatures that evolved specifically for our native flora - return to reclaim the land, parcel by parcel, we can say we have done something positive for the state of California.
Not Just About Gardening November 10, 2001
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
"Gardening With a Wild Heart" is a wonderful book. Even if you could care less about gardening or native plants, it is still a great read. There is so much in here about different ways of life, past and present, in unique Marin County. Open it to any page and you will find fascinating information on a wide variety of subjects, from actual recipes, to native American philsophy. This book fascinated me for hours, and that rarely happens for me with non-fiction books.
Transformational! June 11, 2001
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
I am new to gardening. I was initially seduced by the pictures of California gardens in Sunset magazine. Over the long term, I saw its approach to be only about style and appearance and pleasing the humans. This book on the other hand connects backyard gardening with the wild, with wildlife, and gave me a reason for gardening: for the denizens of the garden -- the birds, bees, butterflies, insects, and squirrels. If you are looking for a how-to book, get Marjorie Schmidt's Gardening with California Native Plants. The definitive California native plant picture identification book hasn't been published, but you can get a lot out of Vern Yadon's Wildflowers of Monterey County.
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