Few of the plants we grow in our gardens today are native to where we live. Some acclimatize readily, but many more can be made to succeed if we understand their climatic needs. Jane Taylor describes a wide range of ways in which gardeners can enhance plants' chances of survival, or their performance in flowering and fruiting, by exploiting and adapting garden microclimates. The book starts by looking at how heat, cold, wind, water and drought affect plant life, and how climate both changes and is changed by local topography and soil type. It then deals with the forms into which plants have evolved under the force of climatic conditions, and their adaptations to extremes of weather as well as - for example - day length or periodic fire. Finally it lists a vast range of plants, both popular and more exotic, giving detailed descriptions of their individual origins and climatic sensitivities.