In defining the Pacific Northwest for the purposes of collecting books for the Miller Library, we have included the portion of California north of the San Francisco Bay area. That inclusion was confirmed for me when visiting Mendocino County this past summer where I especially enjoyed the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden, which includes an arboretum of conifers and a closed-cone pine forest.
A new book in the Miller Library collection, “Wildflowers of Northern California’s Wine Country & North Coast Ranges,” highlights the herbaceous natives of this area and fills in another gap in the field guides to our defined region.
Author Reny Parker has solid northwest credentials, having learned to love the outdoors from outings with her father in central Oregon and British Columbia. She is primarily a photographer and this book includes an elegant collection of close up photos arranged by colors and ordered so that species that resemble each other are together for easy comparison. At the end, there is a section for ferns, grasses, and woody plants and maps of “Hot Spots for Wildflowers”. Since this book includes Marin, Napa, and Sonoma counties, it would be the perfect companion for a winery tour, giving you a chance to clear your head between tastings.
Excerpted from the Winter 2016 Arboretum Bulletin.