The Landscaping Ideas of Jays,
by Judith Larner Lowry, UC Press 2007

An excerpt from
The Landscaping Ideas of Jays:

 "As I walk and drive through California, I mentally relandscape the world and hardly know I’m doing it…....In my imagination, I weed the roadsides as I go, removing the invasive species that follow our cars and preventing further spread into the land.  I employ a panoply of strategies, from mowing to plowing to mulching, and also a favorite fantasy:  my backseat full of weed specialists, my Dream Team.  Tools in hand, they leap out of the car at a moment’s notice to remove the harbingers of ill tidings:  the first Italian thistle, the lone clump of pampas grass, the ominous stand of yellow star thistle…....Driving and looking, I restore drainages, create native prairies, and people these imaginary spaces with children…….Turning off the freeway into the neighborhoods of a city or town, I superimpose wildflower fields where now there are lawns…....My eye does not stop at each lot line; nor do the pollinators, lizards, butterflies, or desert tortoises."

Description: The Landscaping Ideas of Jays

Elegantly organized by season, this lyrical yet practical guide to backyard restoration gardening celebrates the beauty, the challenges, and the rewards of growing native plants at home. Judith Larner Lowry, winner of the prestigious John Burroughs award, here builds on themes from her best-selling Gardening with a Wild Heart, which introduced restoration gardening as a new way of thinking about land and people.

Drawing on her experiences in her own garden, Lowry offers guidance on how to plan a garden with birds, plants, and insects in mind; how to shape it with trees and shrubs, paths and trails, ponds, and other features; and how to cultivate, maintain, and harvest seeds and food from a diverse array of native annuals and perennials. Working in passionate collaboration with the scrub jays, quail, ants, and deer who visit her garden, and inspired by other gardeners, including some of the women pioneers of native plant horticulture, Lowry shares the delights of creating site-specific, ever-changing gardens that can help us better understand our place in the natural world.

This description is from the UC Press page about the book.  Please take a look at their site for more information.

The Landscaping Ideas of Jays can be purchased directly at the UC Press webpage, here at Tree of Life Nursery, and other retail vendors.