JUDITH LARNER LOWRY

      UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

       Berkeley Los Angeles London

      University of California Press

      Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

      University of California Press, Ltd.

      London, England

      © 1999 by

      Judith Larner Lowry

      Second paperback printing 2007

      Botanical drawings © Ane Carla Rovetta. Title page: male flower of blue oak. Part I: wild grapes. Part II: blue oak. Part III: coyote bush, male and female. Part IV: native blackberries and grasshopper. Part V: soaproot bulb, with soaproot brush and mortar.

      Chapter 1 epigraph: W. David Shuford is quoted from David Shuford, The Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas (1993); used by permission of Bushtit Books. Chapter 4 epigraphs: Michael Barbour is quoted from Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Frank Drysdale, and Susan Lindstrom, California's Changing Landscapes: Diversity and Conservation of California Vegetation (1992); used by permission of the California Native Plant Society, Sacramento. Jack Turner is quoted from The Abstract Wild, © 1996 by John S. Turner; used by permission of the University of Arizona Press. Chapter 9 epigraph: Maria Copa is quoted from Mary E. T. Collier and Sylvia Barker Thalman, eds., Interviews with Tom Smith and Maria Copa: Isabel Kelly's Ethnographic Notes on the Coast Miwok Indians of Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties, California, © 1996 Mapom; used by permission. Chapter 10 epigraph: Henry David Thoreau is quoted from Faith in a Seed, edited by Bradley P. Dean, © 1993 by Island Press; used by permission. Chapter 11 epigraphs: the quotation from The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California, edited by James C. Hickman, © 1993 by the Regents of the University of California, is used by permission of the University of California Press. Gene Logsden is quoted from At Nature's Pace: Essays, © 1994 by Gene Logsden; used by permission of Pantheon Books. Chapter 12 epigraph: Marge Piercy is quoted from Circles on the Water, © 1982 by Marge Piercy; reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Chapter 13 epigraphs: Rich Stallcup is quoted from “Fire in Birdland,” Point Reyes Observatory Quarterly Journal, Fall 1995; used by permission. Paul Shepard is quoted from Man in the Landscape: A Historic View of the Esthetics of Nature, © 1967 by Paul Shepard; used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data will be found at the back of this book.

      Printed in the United States of America

      13 12 11 10 09 08 07

      12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

      ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

      Earth, be glad to see me.

       KARUK TOBACCO PRAYER

       CONTENTS

       Preface

       Acknowledgments

       PART I BEGINNINGS

       1. Gardening at the Seam

       PART II TIPPING THE BALANCE IN A NATIVE DIRECTION

       2. Planning Back-Yard Restoration Gardens

       3. Design Thoughts, Principles, and Guidelines

       4. In the Changeful Garden

       5. Examples of Back-Yard Restoration Gardens

       PART III DOING THE REAL WORK

       6. Along the Flower Trail

       7. The Land Wore a Tufted Mantle: The Challenge of Our Native Bunchgrasses

       8. To See All the Colors, to Hear All the Songs: Problems of Exotic Pest Plants

       9. Wildland Seed Harvest

       10. Seed Propagation and Planting Techniques

       PART IV RESOURCES FOR THE BACK-YARD RESTORATION GARDENER

       11. Naturalists and Field Trips

       12. Tools and Tricks of the Trade

       PART V RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY

       13. In My Town

       Resources

       Notes

       Recommended