Our Wonderful Climate

Winter rain drips off a Juniper tree.

One of the great things about gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area is the climate! We are blessed with a temperate, Mediterranean climate, which features summer drought, and winter rain. Only about 2% of the earth claims a Mediterranean climate, including specific regions in California, Chile, South Africa, Australia, and the Mediterranean Basin. These regions are western and southern facing, and on the coast.

Native plants are adapted to these conditions, and use fascinating strategies to retain water, exist on very little water, and to propagate with the least hint of water. Plants from other Mediterranean climate regions often thrive here.

The more I learn about the Mediterranean climate, the more I appreciate it. I have had to rethink what makes a garden beautiful (for example, the coveted lush green lawns and English cottage gardens are water hungry, and difficult to achieve in the Bay Area). But reinterpreting the garden for a summer dry climate is challenging and full of possibilities. A useful book for learning more about plants that thrive in the Mediterranean climate is Plant Life in the World’s Mediterranean Climates, by Peter Dallman.

          Dallman, Peter R. “The Mediterranean Climate,” in Plant Life in the World’s Mediterranean Climates (pages 1-18). University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, 1998. ISBN 978-0-520-20809-4.