Mediterranean climate talk…. and related blog posts
The beautiful photo of the Golden Gate bridge largely engulfed in fog is a classic summer site here in the San Francisco Bay Area where our summers are long and dry, (with temps getting hotter traveling inland) and our winters are mild and wet.
What we have in common with other Mediterranean climate regions of the world, including California and the Western United States, is our shared rain-free, dry summers and mild wet winters.
What are the 5 Mediterranean Climate Regions of the World?
Northern Hemisphere
- California
- Mediterranean Basin
Southern Hemisphere
- Chile
- South Africa
- Australia
And if you live and garden in one of these areas, you know that those long stretches of dry summers make gardening a challenge where water conservation and thirsty plants are a poor match.
Instead, you can successfully grow from an amazing palette of drought adapted California native plants along with many of those from the other Mediterranean regions to create a dynamic garden that uses way less water and can be easier to maintain.
Previous Blog Posts Focused on the California Garden:
Read through and check back often because we’re continually writing about gardening in CA. Enjoy!
1. Colorful Flowers and Foliage
The color wheel in the garden is very much alive. Read these short posts for color based plant info and inspiration:
~ 3 Blue Ground Covers for a Bank or Hillside you Will Love!
~ 7 Good Cut Flowers: Grow your Own!
~ Winter Flowering: Pink Shrub Love!
~ Case Study: Drawn to Blue Flowers in the Garden But Seeing More than Blue
~ When that Plant Makes Your House Shine!
~ Did You Say Orange in the Garden?
~ Bloom Alert! Fall Flower Gardening in Northern CA
~ Find Out which Pretty Spring Flowering Bulb is Invasive!
2. Mediterranean Plants
~ 12 Cool Australian Plants for your California Garden
~ 3 Cool Restios. Grass-Like Plants for your Mediterranean Garden!
~ Want a Hip Garden? Know these 5 Protea Family Plants!
~ Hillside with 5 Rugged Drought Tolerant Plants from the Mediterranean Region of Europe
3. Wildlife in the Garden
~ Learn What a Hummingbird Wants and How you Can Attract Them
~ What is Wildlife Habitat Garden Certification?
~ How to Get More Beneficial Insects to your Garden
~ Natural Mosquito Control: Tips to Combat this Tiny Foe!
4. Using Less Water:
~ Ugly Dry Front Lawn? Here’s What Could Be!
~ Spotlight on Carex Pansa – Natural Lawn Substitute!
~ What Can I do to Conserve Water in My Garden?
~ 17 Drought Tolerant Ornamental Grasses
~Hillside with 5 Rugged Drought Tolerant Plants from the Mediterranean Region of Europe
~ San Francisco: One “City by the Bay Solution” to Greening, Drought and Runoff
~ 6 California Native Plants for Spring Flowers
5. Garden Design:
~ 3 Stone Retaining Wall Ideas for Hillside Gardens
~ Road Trip: A Unique Modern Garden in Los Angeles
~ A Steel Vertical Garden with Circular Cut Outs Houses Tillandsia Air Plants
~ Best Yew Hedging Plants for Screens, Hedges & Backdrops!
~ 6 Basic Principles you Need to Know for Better Plant & Garden Design
6. Botanical Gardens:
~ Review: Huntington Botanical Gardens
~ A Visit to the Ruth Bancroft Gardens – Using Succulents in your Dry Northern California Garden
7. Trees:
~ Magnolias and Flowering Plums
~ Fragrant Tree: Spotlight on Magnolia Doltsopa
~ List of Flowering Trees You’ll Love
~ 2 Naked Trees in the February Landscape!
~The Treegator Slow Release Watering Bag – a Great way to Establish Newly Planted Trees
~ Ever Thought About Growing Your Own Olive Trees?
~ Cutting Down Trees: The Dangerous Street Trees of San Francisco
~Spotlight: Flowering Cherry Trees and Why they Made our Tree List
~5 Flowering Cherries You Will Love!
~Tree Spotlight: Albizia Julibrissin For Summer Pink Flowers!
~Tree Spotlight: Laburnum x Watereri ‘Vossii’ for Golden Spring/Summer Flowers
~Tree Spotlight: Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul Scarlet’ – English Hawthorn
~Grow Your Own Lemons With One Of These 5 Lemon Trees!
~Outdoor Artificial Trees Can Solve Problems in Your Landscape
~You’ll Love Conifers in your Garden: Here’s Why!
~Looking for Lodgepole Pine & Red Fir in California’s Sierra Nevada
