The Well-Designed Mixed Garden

Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs

Foreword by C. Colston Burrell

Illustrations by Megan H. King, Martin Knapp, and Stacey Renee Peters

The Well-Designed Mixed Garden is a design book with a difference. Written for gardeners who are passionate about plants of all kinds (hence the "mixed garden" of the title), it reflects decades of professional experience and artistic innovation. As with her bestselling book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, master designer and plantswoman Tracy DiSabato-Aust provides not only inspiration but also scrupulously organized information on design and connoisseur plants — all from original research dating back to her degree work in horticulture.

Her new offering is a master class of design fundamentals, with an emphasis on often-neglected topics, such as site evaluation, color theory, and planning for maintenance. It is also a gallery of detailed design plans that show how ideas are put onto paper and then translated into three dimensions. Lessons learned in its first two parts are strengthened in an "Encyclopedia of Plant Combinations"; each entry notes the design considerations at play and provides tips on how to keep the combination looking its best. And the lifetime care needs and unique design characteristics of featured plants are summarized in the useful charts and lists that conclude the book. The result is a nearly foolproof guide to every aspect of designing superior gardens with superior plants. With more than 250 color photos and illustrations, this book is as much a feast for the eyes as it will be a trusted reference for the library shelf.

Media reviews of this book:

"Tracy DiSabato-Aust does not skip a stone over the pond of an idea; she immerses herself in it and swims deep and wide ... This book, an outstanding work of gardening scholarship, is at the same time down to earth, inspiring, practical, and altogether useful if you want to develop an extrordinary mixed garden."

—Gordon Hayward, Horticulture, September 2003

"Tracy makes it possible for the novice gardener to design an artistic mixed garden. "

—Joanne S. Carpender, National Gardener, July 2003

"A gorgeous and practical guide to having it all ... The Well-Designed Mixed Garden is one of those enormous and comprehensive works that is equally at home on your coffee table or out in the potting shed."

—Amy Stewart, American Gardener, July/August 2003

"The Well-Designed Mixed Garden is one of those enormous and comprehensive works that is equally at home on your coffee table or out in the potting shed, where you can page through it as you plant."

—Amy Stewart, American Gardener, July/August 2003

"A master design manual for the entire garden and the one book you must have for growing anything."

—John Van de Water, Newark Star-Ledger, June 11, 2003

Customer reviews of this book:

"Very good book! Can be used as an encyclopedia, for professionals and everyone else!"

—Claudia V. from Medford, New York, May 7, 2007

"Excellent, thorough, and what excellent photos!"

—Jennifer B. from Waukesha, Wisconsin, April 4, 2007

"The author is great! I look for her books."

—Pat P. from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, October 3, 2006

"Excellent — full of useful information. Photos are wonderful. I highly recommend this book and author."

—Sue S. from Aspen, Colorado, March 13, 2006

"Wonderful book with excellent full-color photos. Important and useful for the novice gardener."

—Jennifer S. from McKinleyville, California, March 10, 2006

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An excerpt from this book:

When gardens that you've visited linger pleasantly in your memory, what do they look like? Do they have trees above to protect you? Are the trees underplanted with rhododendrons, hellebores, and daffodils? Perhaps there are old-fashioned roses, whose fragrance you can almost still smell. Around the roses are alliums, foxgloves, and dianthus, the wall behind may be covered with honeysuckle and clematis. A group of nigella in soft blue, seeded from the previous season, adds a soft grace to the romantic scene. Maybe you remember a garden with the bold tropical foliage of cannas, the bright yellow flowers of heliopsis, the swaying panicles of miscanthus ...

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