IMO the Sunset Magazine has declined in quality to such a degree that I stopped bothering to read the issues from a gift subscription. I would just scan the few recipes for interesting ones, and recycle. There was nothing else of interest in them anymore.

The Garden Book, on the other hand, is wonderful.

Yes, I stopped my subscription years ago :-) But I do appreciate and value all their other gardening publications!!

It's not a gardening magazine anymore. It's a lifestyle magazine now.

Any recommendations for good gardening magazines? Especially California or USA based ones?

Unfortunately no. Gardening in the West is very idiosyncratic. Your best bet is local gardening and horticulture groups, FB groups, meetups, forums, etc.

While it has a national rather than a regional focus, Fine Gardening is still an excellent magazine and the only gardening magazine (other than trade publications) I bother with. It also has a monthly feature - Regional Picks - with listings of plants picked for some predetermined attribute (criteria varies) by region (CA is one region presented), usually by some horty well known in that area. I have contributed to this feature a couple of times myself.

This is a real gardening magazine - no room decor or architectural spreads, no recipes, no wine tasting or microbrew recommendations :-) Just articles about plants, in depth discussions about various gardening processes/methods and landscape design. Lots of very good photos.

Thanks Gardengal, just subscribed to Fine Gardening. I found some other gardening magazine on Amazon - Horticulture, Garden Gate, Gardens Illustrated and Country Gardens. Any of these good?

On a similar note, anyone have recommendations for gardening blogs?

Personally, I love Gardens Illustrated but it is oriented with a focus towards British gardens, which really do not have a comparable US situation except for the PNW. And the gardens are huge in comparison to most of what we have here in the states. It's fun for looking through and admiring but serves no real practical application to US gardeners. The others, IMO, are not really worth the paper they are printed on. Maybe Horticulture now and again, but not enough for me to bother with subscribing.

Although not really a 'blog', Garden Web offers as good as you can find discussions on a huge range of plant and gardening subjects. Blogs tend to be just personal views of the authors, who may or may not have any meaningful horticultural experience. Much like YouTube or Facebook - a few articles will be good - most are just a waste of space or pretty photos. You have to weed through the drek to find something good.

I've read many issues of Fine Gardening but I think that other than the short Regional Picks feature it is almost entirely oriented to the eastern half of the US that revolves around their Connecticut headquarters. The thing I loved about Sunset when it was great was its real focus and information about west coast and especially CA gardening. CA climate is unique and much of the standard gardening wisdom and techniques that apply to most other regions of the US are not only wrong but harmful for someone gardening in CA.

I have found some good regional information in Pacific Horticulture but it is more of a specialized journal than a well rounded magazine.