Product Description

Tracy DiSabato-Aust has taught thousands of readers how to design and maintain their gardens. Her first book -- The Well-Tended Perennial Garden -- is Timber's best-selling title and widely considered the bible of perennial maintenance. 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants is packed with useful tips, practical hints, and Tracy's own gardening experience. It is sure to find a place on the shelf and in the heart of every gardener. Tracy has identified 50 show-stopping plants that anyone can grow. Each selection is a dynamic choice for nearly every garden. Even better? All 50 plants have passed Tracy's test for toughness, beauty, and durability. These are Tracy's personal favorites, chosen after years of studying how to make beautiful outdoor spaces with a minimum of maintenance.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14214 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780881929508
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

“Gardeners who want the wow without the work will find plenty of ideas in Tracy DiSabato-Aust’s new book, 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants.”

(Akron Beacon Journal )

“This colorful guide gets right to the point, promoting the stars of the garden with a full-page close-up, a few smaller images, plus a fact and bio sheet highlighting why each deserves center stage in your garden.”

(Seattle Post-Intelligencer )

"DiSabato-Aust’s experience with and passion for plants infuses every aspect of the book, from its engaging style to her discipline in keeping it short but thorough."

(Oregonlive.com )

"It is sure to find a place on the shelf and in the heart of every gardener." (Marion Star )

"This is a must-have because it will tell you when and how to prune your perennials for better vigor—and how to get them to bloom more than once a season where possible." (Caledonian Record )

"For those gardeners who love plants but lack the time to spend hours in the garden, this is an excellent book." (American Gardener )

"DiSabato-Aust is an approachable garden writer. She knows we all love to garden but that we have lots of demands on our time and need astute guidance, which she provides in this fantastic book." (Idaho Farm Bureau Quarterly )

About the Author
Tracy DiSabato-Aust, an award-winning designer and a nationally recognized horticultural author, professional speaker, and consultant, has been in the landscape industry since 1978, working, studying, and teaching at gardens in Belgium, England, Canada, and the U.S. She is the owner of Horticultural Classics and Consultations—a garden design company. DiSabato-Aust has contributed articles and photographs to many national magazines, including Fine Gardening, Country Gardens, Garden Gate, Midwest Living, American Nurseryman, Real Simple, and Garden Design. Her own and her clients' gardens are regularly featured in books and magazines and on Channel 4 News in Columbus, Ohio. Extremely popular as a lecturer, Tracy has appeared on television and has been a guest on many national radio gardening programs. She resides near Columbus, Ohio.

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Customer Reviews

50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants
I had the opportunity to hear the author talk about "50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants" at the 2009 Ohio Nursery & Landscape Association and The Ohio State University Short Course. I especially appreciated that she included woodies as well as perennials in the talk as well as in this book. The book is the perfect addition to any designer's library of reference material. The selection of plants is a virtual "Who's Who" of tough, dependable horticultural fare and opened my palette to some new or underused plants as well. I have already recommended the book as well as the plants to several co-workers.

50 High Impact, Low Care Garden Plants
This book is incredible. Easy to read. Enjoyable. Beautifully illustrated. I recently moved to a new city and plan to use "50 High Impact, Low Care Garden Plants" to select the plants I'll use in my new gardens. I thank Tracy DiSabato-Aust for again sharing her amazing knowledge. I own all three of her books and I treasure them.

Highly recommended for urban gardeners, novice gardeners, and no-fuss gardeners!
Review: 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants:
Tough-but-Beautiful Plants Anyone Can Grow by Tracy Disabato-Aust

As a novice gardener, I am drawn to gardening books with a judicious mix of beautiful pictures and helpful advice. This book caught me with its opening:

I wrote this book because you might be like me. You love to garden, but there is never enough time...I've been a gardener for over thirty years both as an avocation and vocation. I love gardening but I also have countless other passions including spending time with my husband, our teenage son, and our dogs and chickens, as well as being a competitive multisport athlete at the national and international level. So I'm constantly rethinking areas of my garden and seeking beautiful yet tough plants to replace demanding ones. I refer to them affectionately as indomitable - not easily defeated, resolute, unconquerable, determined, and strong. Does this sound like the type of plant for you? These plants should be easy to care for but they should bring passion and excitement into our lives with their colors, textures, shapes, and scents. It's great if the plant is easy to grow, but if it's of minimal ornamental value, who really cares?
-50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants
by Tracy Disabato-Aust

Disabato-Aust selected 50 highly ornamental plants that require minimal care and are either US natives or award winners from around the world. Each plant is able to make a statement in multiple seasons because of its long lasting bloom, color, texture, form or fragrance. I'm particularly glad of this selection process since as an urban gardener, I am limited to container gardening. Even in Brooklyn, space is scarce and valuable - I afford to allocate space to non-performing plants.

Disabato-Aust points out that color doesn't just come from the blossoms, but to encourages us to look at the plant's bark and foliage and fruit as well. The book is full of helpful advice both for selecting plants and for caring for individual specimens.

Disabato-Aust developed a very useful checklist for evaluating plants and divides them into High-Impact Traits and Low-Maintenance Traits.

The High-Impact Traits are:
(1) multi-season interest;
(2) colorful foliage;
(3) long-lasting bloom;
(4) outstanding texture;
(5) and architectural form.

The Low-Maintenance Traits are:
(1) long-lived;
(2) tolerant of heat and humidity;
(3) cold-hardy;
(4) deer resistant (not so critical for us urban gardeners);
(5) resistant to insects and disease;
(6) requires minimal or no deadheading;
(7) prospers without heavy fertilizing;
(8) doesn't require staking, infrequent or no division required for 4 or more years;
(9) infrequent or no pruning required to maintain decent habit, appearance or best flowering;
(10) non-invasive; and
(11) drought tolerant.

The beauty of this gardening book is that you can flip through its pages for a plant that catches your eye and then determine whether it would be a fit for your and your garden. I was surprised to find many of the beautiful specimens that I'd admired to be low maintenance and the book has given me ideas for both for my garden, my mother's small garden unit in Boston's South End, and my uncle's large place in Gloucester.

I highly recommend this book for urban gardeners, novice gardeners, and gardeners who would like to spend less time tending plants and more time enjoying them. It's a great gift book as well.