The Well-Tended Perennial Garden

Planting & Pruning Techniques

(Expanded Edition)

With more than 180,000 copies sold since its original publication, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden has proven itself to be one of the most useful tools a gardener can have. Now, in this expanded edition, there's even more to learn from and enjoy. This is the first, and still the most thorough, book to detail essential practices of perennial care such as deadheading, pinching, cutting back, thinning, disbudding, and deadleafing, all of which are thoroughly explained and illustrated. More than 200 new color photographs have been added to this revised edition, showing perennials in various border situations and providing images for each of the entries in the A-to-Z encyclopedia of important perennial species. In addition, there is a new 32-page journal section, in which you can 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.

Media reviews of this book:

"Perfect for the entry-level gardener, this practical guide is lush with clear, step-by-step advice for good growing."

—Real Simple, January 2008

"An excellent resource for planting and maintaining perennial gardens. ... Will serve novice and experienced gardeners alike. ... The pièce de résistance is an A-to-Z encyclopedia of perennial species, their bloom times and maintenance needs, which, alone, makes this the one book you should keep handy to consult throughout the year."

—Jessica Damiano, Newsday, November 14, 2006

"A practical book filled with the details of how to care for perennials. ... Perhaps the most useful section is that of lengthy lists in the back that help you determine which perennials you do and don't want to grow, depending on your tolerance for maintenance and where you live, and which perennials are deer-resistant, have seedheads that attract song birds, are short-lived, need deadheading or lots of other categories thought up by this walking encyclopedia of a perennial expert."

—Valerie Easton, Seattle Times, August 5, 2006

"The best book about growing perennials. Ms. DiSabato-Aust does an excellent job of describing the information needed to have a beautiful, healthy perennial garden."

—Cheryl Cadwell, Newport Daily News, November 5, 2007

"[A] wonderful perennial-maintenance book."

—George Weigel, Harrisburg Patriot-News, October 8, 2007

Customer reviews of this book:

"Excellent! I haven't found any other book that equals this one!"

—Theresa S. from Carlsbad, California, May 2, 2007

"Tracy DiSabato-Aust, you are amazing!"

—Patricia M. from Grass Valley, Michigan, May 1, 2007

"I am just beginning to have a interest in gardening and want to plan one for my home. This book has really helped."

—Hedy K. from Menomenea Falls, Wisconsin, April 30, 2007

"So far, I am just armchair gardening, waiting for the snow to clear. This will help greatly when spring comes!"

—Marcia W. from Cumberland, Maine, March 17, 2007

"Wonderful book! I am a Master Gardener, and I can learn much from it!"

—E. M. from Clarksville, Tennessee, January 19, 2007

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An excerpt from this book:

"Don't Be a Deadhead" is the title of one of my more popular lectures about pruning perennials and preparing planting beds. When I was preparing this talk for a mixed audience of both professionals and homeowners I asked my husband to listen to it and give me his opinion, representing the very novice gardener. In his usual, patient way he waited until I was completely finished with the one-hour discussion, and then said, "you better tell them what a deadhead is." Fortunately no one left the room during my first talk when they found out that I was discussing the removal of old or spent dead flowers and not old or spent rock 'n' rollers (although the latter does sound somewhat more intriguing) ...

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