California Gardening: Really nice new book..see if your library has it.., 0 by surfcity

surfcity wrote:
I love Designer Plant Combinations by Scott Calhoun! I have so many flags in that book.

Two other books that are really cool are:
Natural Gardening in Small Spaces by Noel Kingsbury and
The Southern California Native Flower Garden by Susan Van Atta

I love Kingsbury's book for space-challenged gardens like mine. It was a wonderfully freeing and inspirational book, with tons of tips, particularly with regard to design, an area in which I'm lacking. I practically stood up and cheered when he said we didn't have to feel guilty if we don't use all natives (although I'm going more and more native...lol!). He uses a lot of grasses. I love this book. I think even people with acres and acres of land on which to plant would enjoy this book and get something out of it.

I just got the Van Atta book and it has the coolest feature inside (lower part of picture) with the pages in thirds, and plants and their descriptions and info arranged by size (smallest on bottom, middle in the middle, and taller on top). You can flip the pages back and forth and see what works good together color and design and wise, and most importantly, water wise. Some might think it was gimmicky, but I thought it was...very cool!