The Coastal Gardener:

Eighty years ago Dorothy opened her door and walked outside and into a garden. Surprised (the garden she saw was completely new to her), she proclaimed to her dog Toto, “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.” Everything was different: new plants, varied flowers and a strange climate, and she declared, “We must be over the rainbow!”

As a Southern California gardener, that’s how you might feel. You’re not in Kansas, New York or Illinois. You garden in a unique area, different from anywhere else in the country.

“Fall is spring” here. Don’t turn the page; this isn’t a misprint.

Those three words form much of the foundation of a successful and sustainable gardening experience in Southern California.

Forget the calendar and what you might have gleaned from seed packets and television shows. From a plant’s point of view there are really only two seasons; a cool season and a warm season. One season is for growing and one is for resting.

Generally speaking, Southern California’s cool season begins about now and wraps up sometime in April or May. Our warm season occupies the rest of the year, about April or May through early fall.

In Mediterranean climate regions, like ours, it is the cool season when plants are happiest. To understand coastal Southern California gardening, consider the plant’s perspective.

In Kansas, winter is a time when plants rest. Because plants are resting in the cool season, gardening in these parts of the country is a warm-season activity.

But over-the-rainbow, here in mild Southern California, it is the cool season that is the growing time. Unlike Kansas, here it is during the hot, dry, warm season that plants rest.

For us, “fall is spring,” but that can be hard to comprehend or accept if you grew up in Kansas, or just about anywhere else.

Most gardeners can grasp the idea of a plant having a growing season and a resting season. But where Southern California gardeners sometimes get confused is by assuming the warm season is for growing and the cool season is for resting.