Would you hurry to buy a book from the East Bay Municipal Utilities District? That’s what I thought. I don’t know about EBMUD’s other publications, but their Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates is the best on this timely topic I’ve yet seen. It weighs about 4 lbs, but its design, organization, illustrations, photography, printing and above all its style of writing are as clear, useful and attractive as they could be. The author/editor is Nora Harlow, the excellent phtographer Saxon Holt.
Its subject is the San Francisco Bay area. Obviously many of the plants it lists would be tender in most of Britain. But its principles and the imaginative solutions it describes could be applied anywhere. People with Mediterranean gardens should grab a copy. Definitely my book of the year so far.
