| Customer Reviews
Destined to be a classic garden reference. I'm a master gardener from Illinois,and have heard Tracy Disabato-Aust on a number of occasions. Her book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden has long been our bible for perennials. In this new book, she makes accessible for all gardeners the depth of her experience and research in incorporating many kinds of plants in a mixed border. The book is worth buying for the appendices alone: plants by design and maintenance characteristics as well as common/scientific name cross-references. A must-have garden reference book!
Outstanding This book has a lot to offer. The first half of the book shows plant combinations - both good and bad with detailed commentary. The second half of the book has lists of plants by categories and matrixes. Very useful when you are trying to find a plant to fit a particular situation. Before I bought this book, I had it out from the library and kept renewing it. Decided to have a copy of my own. Now, I use it all the time.
Average text -- for those who like yellow and red.... Tracy DiSabato-Aust has put a lot of herself into her complex book, THE WELL-DESIGNED GARDEN. This topic (design not Tracy) certainly needs addressing. In lieu of hiring a garden designer which most new home owners cannot afford to do, new gardeners must rely on friends as well as multiple books and articles to address garden questions. Wouldn't it be nice to find a single source that covers everything-trees, shrubs, perennial identification and planting and growing specifics, as well as design issues? I doubt this book will satisfy that need. The gardening newcomer or even somewhat seasoned gardeners will probably find this book overwhelming in its detail while remaining unhelpful in addressing specific needs. ^M
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