Tom Fischer is editor-in-chief at Timber Press in Portland, Oregon. He got his start in book publishing at the University of Chicago Press and Beacon Press, and spent 14 years on the editorial staff at Horticulture magazine in Boston. His Boston garden featured a hardscape created by Douglas Reed, of Reed Hilderbrand Associates, and contained noteworthy collections of unusual flowering shrubs, shade perennials, and delphiniums. After moving to Portland in 2004, he began a new drought-tolerant garden composed of plants from the world's five Mediterranean climate areas, with an emphasis on West Coast natives. His garden was profiled in The Oregonian in 2008. His most recent project has been a collaboration with Portland designer Lauren Hall-Behrens to create a lush, exotic garden featuring ornamental grasses, palms, ferns, salvias, Pacific Coast irises, and Southern Hemisphere plants. A prolific writer as well as an editor, Tom's articles have been featured in magazines such as Garden Design, Gardens Illustrated, and Martha Stewart Living. His book, Perennial Companions: 100 Dazzling Plant Combinations for Every Season, was published by Timber Press in February 2009. He also has a website, OverPlanted.com