Rating: 
Summary: Perennials in depth
Review: This book is one of the top 25 best sellers for Timber Press, who have earned an enviable reputation for publishing top-notch books about gardening.Like many authors of this type of book, DiSabato-Aust has divided her material into two parts. Rather less than half provides information about basic perennial gardening - planning, maintenance and pruning for example. Rather more than half is a listing of plants giving basic information about each and information about maintenance and pruning specific to the species, and related plants. I found the most useful sections to be those on disbudding, pinching back, cutting back, thinning and dead-heading. I know these are all ways to encourage better blooms and healthier plants, but I've never known how much, when and with which plants. This book explains these techniques thoroughly. I've no excuses now - it's off with their heads and I'll have masses of bloom and compact healthy plants. The writer has packed a ton of valuable information into this book, but it isn't the most readable book on this topic and the illustrations aren't up to the usual standard for Timber Press. The dedicated gardener, however, will find lots of ideas for refining their gardening techniques.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent guide to the maintenance of perennials
Review: This book not only helps you select the best perennials for your garden, but goes into detail about how to keep your garden looking its best. I think it is better suited to the more experienced gardener, however, because in most cases the Latin names are used as opposed to the common names that most beginners are familiar with. It has great appendices, naming perennials suited for particular situations. In the photo section there are neat "before and after" pictures. The author is honest about a plant's shortcomings such as high maintenance. It is a definite "must have" for serious perennial gardeners.
Rating:
Summary: The Well-Tended Perennial Garden
Review: This book would probably be great for beginners, but I found it disappointing. (Admittedly, I bought it immediately after having heard Tracy Disabato-Aust speak at a local gardening seminar, and her very interesting presentation had already covered most of her ideas, making it rather pointless to read the book.) The book presents two useful and rather novel ideas: pruning the outer stems of some plants to a lower length than the central ones to give a better floral display, and pruning to delay bloom times. The encyclopedic section of the book details which plants respond well to this sort of treatment (and to deadheading). It also includes the basic type of cultural information that can be found in most plant catalogues or reference books. Here's the problem: whenever I come home excited about an unusual new plant that I have just purchased and look into this book to try to find info about how to care for it, my new plant is NEVER to be found in this book. The book covers only basic, run-of-the-mill type plants about which cultural information already abounds. In sum, then: if you are a beginning gardener, you may find this book very helpful . . . but if you like to try new and unusual plants, don't expect to find information about them here.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reference Book
Review: This guide to perennial management tells you how, why, when and what to do when handling these plants. It has been repeatedly recommended for and by experienced professional gardeners and novices alike. Should be on every gardener's bookshelf along with Dirr's "Manual of Woody Plants" and Armitage's book on perennials.
Rating:
Summary: Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques
Review: This is a most informative book with beautiful photos of the author's gardens. She explains clearly the techniques of having a successful perennial garden, both as to planning and then maintaining the plants. Perhaps more for the experienced gardener, but beginners will benefit as well. A must-have for anyone who takes gardening seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, very helpful book!
Review: This is the best plant book I've purchased! I use it all the time to review how to care for my garden. It has great tips on what to do in the spring, when to cut back plants, etc. I'm a new gardener... and I've learned a lot from this book and I keep it handy as a resource all the time.
Rating:
Summary: Well-Tendered Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Technique
Review: This is the greatest book. I have carried it to the garden and matched the text with the plant. For a novice, it created a great and colorful garden that bloomed and returned. My diffficulty is that my book disappeared. Now I must replace in in order to promote and improve the garden. Thanks, Tracy.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of color photos of gardens prettier than mine...
Review: This will be my reference book as I begin to select and grow perenials in my garden. Practical information like selection of plants, pruning tips, disease prevention and cure, landscaping with perenials are all clearly illuminated here. Lots of photos of yards prettier than mine. If you, like me, thought "deadheading" referred to some of our wilder friends from the sixties and seventies, you will be surprised. I am sure there will be plenty of black smudge marks from my fingers poring over this reference book. As a grower of roses, though, there is not much in this particular book. If that is your interest, don't rely on this book to answer your particular questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the Average Gardener
Review: We found this book to be more for the advanced gardener than the first-timer. There are not enough photos of the plants, and they are listed by their scientific names as opposed to their common names. A cross-reference would have been nice.
We were disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent... how-to deadhead, shear, etc.
Review: We need more! When to pinch, deadhead, etc. So far this is the BEST perennial 'primer' I have found. There are so many perennials....what to do, when! I found a review in the Portland, Oregon 'Oregonian' and promptly ordered. I have not been disappointed and use this book as a reference.
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