The sixteen regions
Horticulture regions, defined by climate rather than borders
A region here is a working climate unit: a growing season, a rainfall rhythm and a set of professional practices that travel together. Sixteen of them cover the world's garden climates without pretending that every country is one thing.
Sixteen climate-defined regions
Atlantic & Northern Europe
Mild, wet winters and cool summers make this a long-season garden climate, but wind, cloud and heavy soil decide what thrives. The region's gardening culture is built on hedges, herbaceous borders and woodland plants rather than heat-loving exotics.
Continental & Eastern Europe
Continental winters are cold and reliable, summers warm, and the growing season is compressed into April–October. Snow cover protects perennials; late frost and summer drought are the two edges that shape the planting calendar.
Nordic, Boreal & Alpine
Short summers, long winters and snow cover define the boreal garden; alpine sites add wind, thin soil and a very short window. Success comes from native and near-native species, raised beds and microclimate, not from forcing an extended season.
Mediterranean Basin
Rain arrives in winter and stops in summer; plants here are adapted to drought, heat, fire and calcareous soil. The garden year runs October–May, and summer is a survival season, not a planting one.
North America: Northeast & Great Lakes
Four distinct seasons with a cold winter and humid summer; the native woodland and prairie flora is the strongest palette. Late frost, summer humidity and deer pressure are the recurring constraints.
North America: Pacific Northwest
Wet winters and dry summers create a Mediterranean rhythm in a cool climate; conifers, moss and woodland perennials do the heavy lifting. The dry summer is the design constraint, not the rain.
North America: California & the Southwest
Two climates meet: winter-rain Mediterranean California and the summer-monsoon desert Southwest. Both are water-limited, fire-shaped and alkaline in places, so the palette is built on drought and heat tolerance first.
North America: Southeast & Gulf Coast
Long, hot, humid summers and mild winters; hurricanes, heavy clay and nematodes are the constraints. The region's garden identity is the live oak, the veranda and the warm-season lawn.
Latin America: Tropics & Caribbean
No frost, high rainfall and leached soils; growth is continuous and the limiting factors are drainage, shade and humidity. The useful palette is tropical fruit, palms, aroids and orchids, not temperate perennials.
Latin America: Andes & Temperate South
A southern-hemisphere temperate belt with Mediterranean central Chile, cold Patagonia and the high Andes; the garden year runs September–April. Winter rain in Chile and summer rain in the pampas mean the same plant list does not travel far.
Africa: Savanna, Highlands & Cape
The continent spans summer-rain savanna, cool highlands and the winter-rain Cape; fire, grazing and water define the palette. Indigenous plants and water-wise design are the region's professional strength.
Middle East & West Asia
Heat, salinity and scarce water are the baseline; the garden tradition is the courtyard and the chahar bagh, built on shade, irrigation and dates, olives, figs and pomegranates.
South Asia
The monsoon delivers most of the year's water in four months; the rest is hot and dry. Mango, banana, coconut, jasmine and marigold define the garden, and drainage matters as much as irrigation.
Southeast Asia
Equatorial heat and rain all year; there is no dormant season, so pruning, feeding and drainage are continuous. Orchids, aroids, palms and tropical fruit are the working palette.
East Asia
A temperate monsoon with humid summers, a plum-rain season and typhoons; the garden tradition is the most codified in the world, from zōen and karesansui to the classical Chinese garden. Winter cold varies sharply from Hokkaido to Hong Kong.
Australasia
A southern-hemisphere mix of temperate coast, dry interior and subtropical north; fire, drought and phosphorus-poor soils shape the native palette. The garden year is inverted against Europe and North America.
How to use a region page
Start with the climate plate: frost risk at the top, growth dots in the middle, rainfall bars at the bottom. Read the four-season table next, then the constraints — those are the conditions that decide which plants fail. The palette is a working list, not a flora; the sources at the foot of each page are the check.