The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Tracy DiSabato-Aust (Author) "THE AMOUNT of maintenance a garden requires depends precisely on how the garden was designed or planned..." (more)
Key Phrases: fresh basal foliage, new basal foliage, pruning for height control, Global Book Publishing Photo Library, Photos Horticultural, Chris Hansen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"If you don't have a horticulture background, are too busy to take the master gardener program, and wonder about the nuts and bolts of gardening, read this book."  (Steve Aitkin Horticulture )

"A practical book filled with the details of how to care for perennials..."  (Valerie Easton Seattle Times )

"Well worth revisiting, with more than 200 new photos and a 32-page journal section in which you can enter details, notes, and observations about the requirements and performances of perennials in your own garden."  (Suzanne Hively Cleveland Plain Dealer )

"This book raise[s] gardeners' awareness through its refusal to pull punches or let the central tenets get lost in thickets of flowery prose. It's probably the most down-and-dirty book on gardening I've ever read."

(St. Paul Pioneer Press )

"The plant expert Tracy DiSabato-Aust says that slightly tender plants, like certain asters, chrysanthemums and ferns, benefit from the layer of protection their dead tops offer during the winter. And their seeds are also beneficial to the birds." (New York Times )

Product Description
With more than 130,000 copies sold since the original publication, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden has proven itself to be one of the most useful tools a gardener can have. In this expanded edition more than 200 color photographs have been added, showing perennials in various border situations and providing images for each of the entries in the A–Z encyclopedia. In addition, there is a new 32-page journal section with room to enter details, notes, and observations about the requirements and performance of perennials in your own garden. Thousands of readers have commented that The Well-Tended Perennial Garden is one of the most useful and frequently consulted books in their gardening libraries. This new, expanded edition promises to be an even more effective ally in your quest to create a beautiful, healthy, well-maintained perennial garden.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated; 2 edition (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881928038
• ISBN-13: 978-0881928037
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,474 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Plants > Flowers
  #1 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Flowers > Perennials
  #7 in	Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Botany

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent on techniques for Perennials. Buy It., February 16, 2007

By	B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I am exceptionally pleased that 'The Well-Tended Perennial Garden' has gotten as many favorable reviews as it has, since I suspect it's charms and offerings are just a bit more subtle than your average glossy oversized gardening book. It is essential that you pay attention to the subtitle, as this is a book specializing in teaching us about setting up and planting perennials, and less about choosing or matching or even weeding perennials (the author does not like to weed!). If you flip through the book, you may be put off by the lack of illustrations accompanying the text. While I'm not a big fan of pictures in cookbooks, unless it's discussing a specific technique, I sort of miss them in gardening books. This volume is economically done, with all the glossies in a central rotogravure section. This is ok, because the real meat is in the lessons on planting and pruning. The only place I really miss them is in the encyclopedia of perennials, which is less a true comprehensive encyclopedia than a dictionary of pruning techniques by species. The final two appendices on plant maintanence schedules and lists of plants by care technique may be worth the price of the book for serious gardiners. This is easily the most useful book I've read on perennials.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference, November 5, 2006

By	Janice F. Recchio "gardener gram" (North Tonawanda, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book came highly recommended to me by garden friends. I've been gardening for some time but have just really gotten into perennial gardening. The answers to my questions are right here. What, when and how to 'deadhead', plant, move and prune. Plus some excellent techniques that I have yet to try, but I know work well for other experienced gardeners.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gardening Book I Recomend to Everyone !!!!!!!!!, November 5, 2006

By	D. Foster "gardendollee" (NW Indiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I love this book! I have both editions. What I like most about it is that new gardeners can learn some crutial skills right out the chute and experienced gardeners will learn new ways to care for their perennials.That is whay I recomend it to everyone when I give gardening lectures. Tracy has truly improved on this title with the release of the expanded version. I love the lists in the back of the book and the alphabetical encyclopedia. The fact that a lot of the info in her book is based on her experience in her own gardens and clients' gardens is important to me. Truly a book to add to your gardening library.