Gardening with a Wild Heart: Restoring California's Native

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.

"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.

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.

I couldn't put this poetic, informative book down; I read it all in one day. It's powerful and articulate, a closely reasoned case for gardening with local native plants that uses California examples but is relevant for gardens all over the country. It's as much nature writing as a gardening book.

This elegantly written and thoughtful book was a joy to read. Ms. Lowry has clearly had years of experience and expresses herself with an educated, light touch. Her wildflower chapter alone is worth the price. I found myself inspired to look in my own backyard to discover more about the plant communities. A delightful and immensely thought provoking book. Hope she is working on a new one!