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.

Preface My Dream Neighborhoods FALL 1. Esperando la Lluvia:Waiting for Rain 2. Birdsong Ripens Berries, Wind Brings the Seeds 3. The Keynote Bird: Creating Habitat through Focus on a Single Species 4. I Live in a Quail Yard: A Garden Designed with Quail in Mind 5. The Keynote Plant: Rules of Thumb for Garden Design 6. Sing Willow 7. The Landscaping Ideas of Jays 8. In Praise of the Unleaving: Deciduous Trees and Shrubs for the California Gardener WINTER 9. Eating the Rain 10. Eternal Vigilance: Featuring Bermuda Buttercup 11. Rain-time Reading 12. Supreme Advocate for California's Native Plants: Lester Rowntree 13. Bright Were Her Days: Edith Van Allen Murphey 14. An Inordinate Number of Good Things: Gerda Isenberg 15. Forest Gardens: The Lessons of Coarse Woody Debris SPRING 16. The Flower Dance in Modern Times 17. The Weed Dance in Modern Times 18. Do You Talk to Plants? 19. Rock Knows: Features for the Restoration Garden 20. Where's the Clover? The Real California Cuisine SUMMER 21. Saying Farewell to Spring: Growing Site-Specific Clarkias 22. The Preservation of Small Things 23. The Pollinators of Small Things 24. Animal Assistants 25. Celebrations from the Native Plant Palette 26. Fog Flower: Four Guidelines for Backyard Restoration Gardeners 27. Scale Is All: Large Shrubs and Small Trees THE FIFTH SEASON 28. The Quiet Time 29. The Berry Harvest 30. Paths and Trails: Making Our Way through the Restoration Garden 31. Everything's Here: The Late Summer Riches of the Pond Scum Production Area 32. Life Is Maintenance Coda: We Are Not the First Acknowledgments Notes Recommended Reading Index