Country

Israel: 4 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Israel straddles the line where the Mediterranean world ends and the desert begins. The Eastern Mediterranean conifer-broadleaf forests bring winter-rain woodland to the northern hills and coast, with a touch of the Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests in the far north. South and east, the country passes into the Arabian desert and the Mesopotamian shrub desert. That boundary runs through the middle of the country and through every planting decision: the Mediterranean zone supports pines, oaks, and the classic dry-summer garden flora on winter rainfall alone, while the Negev and rift-valley deserts are irrigation country where only true xerophytes grow unassisted. Both forest ecoregions rate Nature Imperiled, making the remaining native woodland worth knowing and echoing in gardens.