California's Wild Gardens showcases the splendid abundance of California's native plants in their natural settings – from foggy rain forests and rolling grasslands to high alpine meadows and parched deserts. California's Wild Gardens offers a close-up look at more than one hundred special sites in the state, highlighting their distinctive ecology, the rare and unique plants found in them, and some of their more familiar botanical treasures. With its spectacular color photographs and lively writing by some of California's best biologists and ecologists, California's Wild Gardens is the perfect introduction to the state's remarkable botanical diversity. Like the best travel guides, it will inspire its readers to further explore California's natural heritage. In addition to illuminating California's botanical bounty, California's Wild Gardens discusses threats facing the state's flora and describes protection efforts now under way.
Phyllis M. Faber, General Editor of the California Natural History Guides, is coauthor of Introduction to California Plant Life (revised edition, California, 2003), and coeditor of the new revised editions of Introduction to California Mountain Wildflowers (California, 2003), Introduction to Shore Wildflowers of California, Oregon, and Washington (California, 2003), Introduction to California Spring Wildflowers of the Foothills, Valleys and Coast (California, 2004), and Introduction to California Desert Wildflowers, all by Philip A. Munz.
"I wholeheartedly, unequivocally, and strongly recommend this fine and beautiful book. California's Wild Gardens: A Living Legacy is truly one of a kind and will be enjoyed by everyone interested in our state's native plants. "
– Bart O'Brien, The Southern California Gardener
"This is the mother lode of California plant books, with many precious nuggets within its covers [...] Let us hope that what remains of the diversity and beauty of our state's threatened natural gardens so sumptuously displayed and described here can be preserved. The book spells out convincingly how 'each of us can help in some small way to preserve California's rich botanical heritage.'"
– Robert Ornduff, Fremontia