Book Review: The Perennial Care Manual

After I posted a rave review of Fallscaping by Nan Ondra, Storey Publishing kindly offered to send me a copy of Nan’s new book: The Perennial Care Manual: A Plant by Plant Guide, What to Do and When to Do It.  I didn’t think a book could out-do Fallscaping in the richness of the pictures and the depth of the information, but Perennial Care Manual managed to do both.

I found myself sitting down with the book trying to read it end to end but ended up being seduced by the pictures.  I flipped through the book just to look at them and drool!  I am all about high quality pictures in a gardening book, and The Perennial Care Manual certainly didn’t disappoint.  This book is huge also – I couldn’t believe the large package that arrived on my door after I had forgotten they were sending it to me!  This is a book??  WOW. 



It’s full of good information split into 2 sections:

Perennial Care Basics

The clear-cut detail on how to take cuttings or divisions is some of the best I’ve read.  I’m beginning to suffer from the “I’ve read this a thousand times before” as I read more and more gardening books that have the same information… but Nan’s book was different.  I felt like I learned a lot from the book and it even kept my attention through some of the tedium that can be, “What kind of soil do you have?”  I was hooked and read every word.

Plant-by-Plant Perennial Guide

While many gardening books list plants and cultural information, Nan’s book wasn’t like other books and did a great job of giving good seasonal information about perennial maintenance for many of the most popular perennials.  It wasn’t dry.

I really enjoy Nan’s writing style – it is conversational and without a hint of elitism or stuffiness that some garden books sometimes have.  The book was personable - pictures of Nan humbly cutting back grasses, digging transplants, cutting sod.  I think I also really enjoy her gardening style – big bright colors, contrasting colors and textures, and large swaths of plantings.  When I showed some of them to Chris he responded, “Eh, not my style.”  It never occurred to me that Nan had a particular style.  I know there are those that hate orange or pink flowers, or can’t have a particular color in their garden – to each their own.  I like the big in-your-face colors of Nan’s book (just look at the cover!) and the plants chronicled.

If you’re interested, I would encourage you to visit Amazon because you can flip through some of the pages of the book there and see for yourself what I’m raving about.

I love to read this book while lying in bed before I go to sleep.  It gives me sweet dreams about the gardens I cannot wait to create!  I think I officially have a new favorite author, and book!