Product Description
Every gardener loves perennials. Buy them and plant them, and most will flourish and even expand year after year. But in addition to reliability, perennials offer gardeners a wonderful opportunity to make a stunning visual statement in their home landscapes–if you know how to combine and arrange them. In The Perennial Gardener’s Design Primer, Stephanie Cohen and Nancy Ondra, two top garden writers and teachers, offer fun, organized, and–most important–attainable… More >>
The Perennial Gardener’s Design Primer
#1 by M. M. Bouffard-Ellis on April 9, 2010 - 10:23 am
Haven’t really had much time to read this, but I DID “paw through” it, and it looks even better than expected!
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Dianne Foster on April 9, 2010 - 10:50 am
I bought a half dozen new garden books for myself for winter reading, and including THE PERENNIAL GARDENER’S DESIGN PRIMER by Cohen and Johnson. I have felt I got my money’s worth with the others, but found myself disappointed with this book. In time, I may come to appreciate it more, but if I was a new gardener, I would find it overwhelming. Too often, when we are filled with knowledge, we are tempted to share it, and too often, others cannot hear, let alone digest it. This book appears to be one of those efforts where everything but the kitchen sink was tossed in. To say these gals are knowledgeable is an understatement. I am surprised the book made it past the editor’s desk. Undoubtedly, she fell asleep.
Oh there are some great photos by Rob Cardillo. For me, the best shot is the boot of a station wagon filled with plants. But the authors soon tell the reader that admiring this scene is a “no-no” How often have you gone nuts at the nursery and filled your car with plants then stood and appreciated the arrangement you made? When you got the plants home and planted them, did they look so nice the next year? The authors suggest that planning your garden on the fly can lead to disaster, and well it might, but I am of the “organic” school and I believe you can move plants if you don’t like the arrangement at a later date. These gals are into control big time, however. They want you to draw the design (or better…hire a designer), and then follow your design to the letter. They even designed a “cottage garden” if you can believe that, although it comes out looking like knot garden to my eye. If I did what they suggest I would tie myself in knots. The best arrangements I have “created” are serendipitous choices nature made using the seeds tossed off by my perennials and accidental juxtapositions of plants from seeds dropped by the birds.
The next time you are tempted to undertake garden design, check this book out of the library. You will soon be singing, `Tis a joy to be simple…..
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by allanbecker-gardenguru on April 9, 2010 - 12:46 pm
The Perennial Gardener’s Design Primer
By Stephanie Cohen and Nancy J. Ondra
Storey Publishing
ISBN -13978-1-58017-532-2
If this book had been available when I first started gardening, I would have saved both time and money and might have avoided frustration and disappointments. This publication allows the perennial gardener to skip past the trial and error stages of gardening and move directly into planting and growing pleasurable perennial gardens.
Whether one is a novice attempting a first-ever flower bed or a seasoned gardener re-configuring or enlarging a pre existing one, there is ample advice and encouragement to accomplish ones goals with confidence and satisfaction. The artistry of this book is that it is not necessary to read it from cover to cover in order to learn. Reader may select only those chapters that reflect the existing physical conditions of their gardening space or may chose to read about a specific style of garden they want to create.
One can find advice about a shade or a sun garden, a dry or a soggy location, a small flower bed or a meadow of wildflowers, a perfectly manicured border or a minimal maintenance garden. Whatever the readers’ choice, the authors offer guidance for plant site, bed preparation, flower selection and plant combination. Within each clearly defined type of garden there is a suggested list of very specific plants that have a proven track record for converting perennial gardeners’ dreams into reality.
There is an interesting rhythm to this book. Each author gardens according to her particular tastes and needs and writes about them with conviction. By juxtaposing two different yet respected points of view, the authors have created a primer with a double purpose. It emboldens the reader to embrace one’s own gardening style while at the same time offers more than one reliable path to perennial gardening success.
Allan Becker reviews books on gardening for [...]
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Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by J. Sorensen on April 9, 2010 - 1:20 pm
This is one of my favorite garden books. I’ve only started gardening in the last couple of years. Since I had some failures in my first season, I’ve been trying to read all I can on the subject. This is definitely one of the best books that I have found to communicate garden design. I would also recommend “Designing Your Gardens and Landscapes” by Janet Macunovich.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by BethanySLP on April 9, 2010 - 4:16 pm
If you want to plant a flower garden, this is a great how-to. It gives you plenty of suggestions and “jumping off” points which giving you the knowledge and confidence that you can put together your own plans/ideas and not just feel like you have to copy a set plan exactly if order for it to look decent.
I bought 4 garden books after looking at about 25, and this is still my favorite.
Rating: 5 / 5