The Coastal Gardener:

If you are hiring either a landscape designer or a landscape architect there is only one simple question you need to ask. It will tell you just about everything you need to know concerning their abilities: “Are you familiar with any of Bob Perry’s books?”

That should do. If you get a blank stare, it’s time to move on. “Next please.”

In 1980, Perry published his first book, “Trees and Shrubs for Dry California Landscapes.” It’s hard to understand today, but at the time there was little concern for climate appropriate plants and a “dry” garden was about as popular as a root canal. However, the book was the precursor of a gardening movement few imagined at the time.

In 1992, Perry published his second book, an epic titled “Landscape Plants for Western Regions,” which is still in print. Immediately, it became the standard reference for a new era of Western plant selections. Since then, it has been a common plant reference, a popular textbook and a pictorial plant guide for anyone wishing to better understand the mysteries of a myriad of new plants, all seeming to engulf and overwhelm California’s gardening world.

In the meantime, while working on his books, Perry had a day job. He has been designing gardens for 40 years and became a licensed landscape architect in 1972. He runs his own landscape architecture firm in Claremont, Perry & Associates Collaborative. Because of his long tenure as a horticulture and landscape design professor at UCLA, USC and especially at Cal Poly Pomona, where he is professor emeritus, his huge legion of disciples are well seeded throughout local horticulture, especially in the professional trade.

Perry’s latest book, “Landscape Plants for California Gardens,” is his latest gift to area gardeners and professionals. Released two weeks ago, the book was 17 years in the making and is published by Perry himself. Without debate, this is the best book ever written about California’s garden plants.

“Landscape Plants for California Gardens” is larger-than-life. At eight pounds, 650 pages and an $87.50 price tag, this is a serious volume. The book details 2,100 plants, with more than 3,100 full-color pictures. While the Sunset Western Garden Book tackles plants from Hawaii to Alaska and east to the Rocky Mountains, “Landscape Plants for California Gardens” focuses exclusively on California.

In all of Perry’s books he not only describes, but he teaches. While other plant books mention bloom times, plant heights and light exposure, this books takes a much deeper and more precise look at these plants, blending both the art and the science of each offering. For instance, while Sunset ranks plants into four convenient water-need categories, Perry, always a teacher, goes well beyond this basic approach.

Perry offers the readers specific evapotranspiration rates, a true measurement of a plant’s water needs, for thousands of plants. Still not satisfied, he then links these water criteria to each of California’s many climate zones. He discusses hydro zones and the critical need in a garden to pair plants by their water need. He also examines the efficiency of various irrigation systems. Then finally, after grouping plants both by water palette and aesthetics, he offers definitive information about these groupings ultimate water needs. Brilliant!

If all this sounds a bit too complicated for someone just wanting a pretty garden — it probably is. That’s why there are landscape professionals. By coalescing climates zones, evapotranspiration information, water budgets, soil preferences, exposure, growth habits, aesthetics and much more, a professional landscape architect or designer can create a garden that persists and sustains; a garden that works.

I will be studying, absorbing and referring to the information in this book for many years to come; so will serious California gardeners and gardening professionals.

Remember, the next time you are considering hiring a professional designer or architect all you need to say is “Bob Perry.”

If they smile, start into a little story of when they first met Bob, and then pull out a tattered, worn, dog-eared book with his name on the cover, then you’re talking to a real professional.

If not, “next please.”

Ask Ron

Question:

When should I begin fertilizing my blueberry plant?

Joe

Answer:

Right now, Joe. Blueberries are waking up now. Most are either in full bloom or just finishing. Soon, hundreds of tiny little blueberries will be seen throughout the plants and new leaves will be bursting forth. Always use a mild acidic fertilizer on blueberries, organic is my suggestion. Cottonseed meal is ideal or Dr. Earth Azalea and Camellia Fertilizer. For potted blueberries use it every six weeks from now through August or September.

ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail [email protected], or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.

RON VANDERHOFF is the nursery manager at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar.