Caring for Perennials: What to Do and When to Do It

Rating:
Summary: Excellent guidance for both new and experienced gardeners
Review: Having gardened for over ten years, and purchased many books about perennial gardening in that time, I find myself coming back time and again to two old favorites: this book and Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials. (With an occasional glance at Rodale's Insect Weed and Disease Guide when circumstances demand it!) I consider these to be the essential guides to perennial gardening, and as I write this realize I need to go through all my gardening books and sell all the others on Amazon! :o) I agree with the other reviewers; Macunovich's detailed instructions, pictures, plant recommendations, drawings, are just invaluable help to a gardener in the midst of maintaining a perennial garden. Her method for controlling weeds is the most rational approach going. Stories about gardens that have gone wrong, how gardens change over time and need to be adjusted, tradeoffs that can be made to save time ... I can't recommend it enough!

Rating:
Summary: invaluable guide for the new or unorganized gardener
Review: I bought this book because the subtitle, What to Do and When to Do It, precisely captured my state of confusion as a new gardener. I don't always know how to do a thing and just as often don't know when to do it either! The author takes us through a full year's worth of work, beginning with using a garden diagram and proceeding through finding plants and tools, pruning, weeding, mulching, watering and fertilizing, pest control, maintenance and getting ready for the next season. The book concludes with a chart of instructions for particular species of perennials, an index and a bibliography. The chart, in fitting with the emphasis of the book, instructs in each plant's proper care and is divided into months, April through November. The first chapter, kind of an overview of the year-in-gardening approach, has many color photographs, and the rest of the book contains many line drawings to illustrate techniques. Quite nice and very helpful.

Rating:
Summary: invaluable guide for the new or unorganized gardener
Review: I bought this book because the subtitle, What to Do and When to Do It, precisely captured my state of confusion as a new gardener. I don't always know how to do a thing and just as often don't know when to do it either! The author takes us through a full year's worth of work, beginning with using a garden diagram and proceeding through finding plants and tools, pruning, weeding, mulching, watering and fertilizing, pest control, maintenance and getting ready for the next season. The book concludes with a chart of instructions for particular species of perennials, an index and a bibliography. The chart, in fitting with the emphasis of the book, instructs in each plant's proper care and is divided into months, April through November. The first chapter, kind of an overview of the year-in-gardening approach, has many color photographs, and the rest of the book contains many line drawings to illustrate techniques. Quite nice and very helpful.

Rating:
Summary: A truly useful and practical book
Review: This book not only provides fantastic instructions but also reads like a good story. The author uses a conversation tone as she shares her methods, techniques and strategies. She shares her failures as well as her success, clearly stating what she has learned from each. This is appropriate for all level of gardner and a "really should have" for any beginner.

Rating:
Summary: A truly useful and practical book
Review: This book tells you what to do in a clear and understandable way, without expecting you to already be an expert gardener. This has been a really great help for me in landscaping and upkeeping my yard.