The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques

I work as a perennial salesperson in a large, family-owned garden center in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. Any time a customer asks for a book on perennials or gardening in general, I always recommend this one.It provides a wealth of general gardening information on soil preparation, watering, diseases, pruning techniques and more. The plant encyclopedia section is the most valuable part of the book. In it, Ms. Aust discusses the most widely available and popular perennials individually and in detail. For each plant, there is a picture next to which she lists the latin name, the common name, the light, water and soil requirements, the height, width and bloom-time. After those details are presented, she discusses when to prune, cut back, dead-head, divide and fertilize that plant. She has gathered this information over a lifetime of gardening experience.The appendix of the book contains many valuable lists of plants under headings such as "Plants to Pinch for Height Control" or "Clay Busters". I can't imagine selling perennials to others or tending to my own garden without this bible.One complaint that customers have mentioned to me about this book (after I have recommended it)is that Ms. Aust uses the Latin nomenclature for everything. This was intimidating to me at first, too. I had to learn the Latin for my job as a perennial salesperson so I was forced to "embrace" it. I am glad that I did because it makes reading a book like this easier. My advice to anyone interested in gardening: learn the Latin! It's intellectually challenging and fun. It will open up a wide world of plants to you. Carpe diem!

Outstanding guidance.Hundreds of color photos, design ideas, photo sequences that show a garden progressing through the seasons, photo examples of pests and diseases, and written in a way that inspires gardening confidence: I can’t believe I’ve been gardening 25 years without this book.Step-by-step directions and a plant-by-plant guide to soil preparation, watering needs, pruning, and dividing.This book is a great housewarming present – that’s how I got it!

I was looking for a book to give me some practical insight into setting up and managing a perennial garden and I think I found the book. Seven chapters are devoted to designing, bed preparation, planting, pests, diseases, staking and division issues. I wish I had this book before starting my garden; the bed preparation chapter would have saved me a lot of effort in planting. Five more chapters are devoted to pruning, deadheading, cutting back, pinching, thinning, dead-leafing, and winter/spring preparation. The book contains many pictures and diagrams to accompany the instruction provided.I found the encyclopedia section to be very helpful in giving specifics for individual plants, and it contained pictures of the plants discussed. The listing of plants is in alphabetical order by genus/species with the common name listed beneath. This is good; however, for someone accustomed to using common names, it would have been helpful to have an appendix with a cross reference to common names. I generally don't memorize genus or species names for most plants.The book also contains three helpful appendixes on grasses, maintenance and pruning requirements. I found the glossary helpful to me (not being a plant expert) when it was necessary to look up terminology used in the text.Overall, I found this book to be very helpful on the subject of perennial gardening.

I have had a mixed garden for over ten years. Each year I love it in the spring and hate it by August. Why I asked my self? What am I doing wrong. Then I found The Well-Tended Garden and I got it. I didn't know how to keep it up, I didn't know how to "clean my house." So by the time August came around my garden looked like a house that hadn't been cleaned in months. YUK! This is such an exciting year. I have already begun to implement Tracy's recommendations. I am staking early and keeping the garden clean and tidy. Every week I am out there cleaning and working. I am having so much fun. This year my garden is going to be beautiful the entire season. I feel elated. I have never had so much garden energy. It is such a bummer I have to go to work!Please, buy this book, it will change your garden life. And buy all three of her books. I keep thinking...to bad I didn't know about Tracy 12 years ago. Thanks Tracy

This book has taught me many things I did not know about cutting back perennials, methods for avoiding staking, and producing healthy foliage throughout the season. The book is organized with general information followed by an alphabetical list of hundreds of plants. They are listed by their Latin name but are cross-referenced with their common name in the index. Each description includes the zone, common name, family, description, size, exposure, and flowering period. The description is especially useful if searching for a specific cultivar, especially because the author recommends different pruning techniques for various cultivars. She also indicates good plants for "beginner" gardeners as well as what she terms "high maintenance plants" and indicates methods for creating a successful garden before anything is even planted. At the end of the book she offers a valuable schedule for the growing season. This book is different from most pruning books in that it only discusses plants, no trees or shrubs. The photographs are not of glorious gardens to make one drool, they are more illustrative of pruning techniques. A wonderful book, my garden is already the better for it.

My only reservation is that it is written for the USA - the author talks about climate 'zones' - ours in the UK are very simple compared to the States. The map at the back of the book shows the USA zones - there is a multitude of them! I guess the UK would fall into the USA Eastern coastal zone, but the map is tiny and not terribly helpful to the UK gardner.That said, the author is very honest about what she thinks are practical plants to grow in the perennial garden. I like her style.

I bought this book on the recommendation of Beth Chatto from an article in a gardening mag and have not been disappointed. The subject is mainly about caring for perennials with the minimum of maintenance. The author guides you through thinning, pinching-out, pruning, and deadheading in order to produce the most amount of flowering time.Although her work and zone guidance is based in America it is still a very useful reference book to have for all perennnial lovers.

Good book that helps the gardener keep an attractive garden all year round. So many tips that I have never heard of. Delighted with it.

This is an excellent reference book which even a seasoned gardener will learn from.

I bought this book for my parents because they wanted a book that told them exactly what to do with specific plant types at different times of the year. They were very pleased with it.