When I started gardening Tracy DiSabato-Aust's first book, the Well Tended Perennial Garden was one of the first I purchased. Today with mud-stained, well-creased pages, it is still one of my favorite and primary reference books. Her second book, written with the same practical and enthusiastic advice, is useful to all gardeners, from beginner to advanced. DiSabato-Aust clearly believes anyone, with any yard, can have a beautiful garden. This book is less reference than the first one, but valuable in its own right. As a scientist, I didn't exactly agree with her descriptions of color, but putting aside my background, I found the information on color design to explain why some parts of my garden just didn't look quite right. The first part is "theory", but amply illustrated and diagrammed. The second part, her example gardens, might not translate immediately into your (or my) yard, but they are useful teaching tools. Finally, the last third of the book is are great encyclopedic appendices about different kinds of plants, where to put them and how they fit into the overall design of the garden.
