Know Maintenance Perennial Garden - Softcover

Diblik, Roy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1604693347 ISBN 13: 9781604693348

Publisher: Timber Press, 2014

Synopsis

In 'The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden', Roy Diblik shares his unique approach to growing perennials so that readers can reap the benefits of a beautiful garden with minimal maintenance. He lays out fifty self-sustaining perennial communities on a grid, which can be implemented in a variety of sites and different scales. Each segment only requires up to 25 minutes of maintenance every 2 weeks. The 'Know-Maintenance' approach develops gardeners' knowledge of how their plants will interact and gives them a greater understanding of their site and soil. This will allow them to create a spectacular planting display using the huge range of colours and forms offered by perennials.

About this title

Review:

"[Diblik] appropriately starts the book off with chapters on understanding your garden (soil, light, shade), understanding plants (growth habits, flowers, foliage, stems, crowns), preparing and maintaining the site, and some likely plants to consider. Then comes the true treasure--chapter 6 has 62 planting plans, broken down into sun and shade, and then further into themes inspired by successful public plantings (the High Line, "Essence of Piet Oudolf") or even paintings (van Gogh's Poet's Garden)." --Landscape Architecture

"Diblik has codified a naturalistic, yet artistic, approach to building garden beds in the northern tier of North America. Soil composition and amount of sunlight form the starting point to finding a palette of plants sympathetic with a site. Diblik stresses intimate contact with your plants as it allows you to "know" them, the most important aspect of gardening in his opinion. Many inspiring photographs depict the colorful and textural results. Ornamental grasses figure prominently as a foil for the colorful blossoming plants. Themed templates, many titled after Impressionist paintings, will help readers knowingly plan their garden." --Country Gardens

"A stunning guide to creating nature inspired gardens. . . . Diblik, who supplied many of the plants for the award-winning Lurie Garden at Millennium Park in Chicago, offers up detailed information about 74 sturdy and appealing perennials in a photo-rich reference." --Chicago Tribune

"Perennial gardeners will appreciate The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden, a book based on the premise that knowing your plants helps you care for them more effectively, with less work." --Akron Beacon Journal

"Diblik explains the concepts behind self-sustaining plant communities--plants that naturally grow well in harmony and require little maintenance, once established. With Diblik's method, you can throw out the mulch, abandon staking, deadheading, the fertilizers and herbicides, the end-of-the-season cleanups. Instead, you'll learn to understand how plants grow--their soil, water, and light requirements--and the easy ways to get what you want. . . . A wonderful book for homeowners and designers alike--it definitely belongs on your bookshelf." --Garden Design Online

"A straightforward, easy-to-follow guidebook for planting design success, suitable for the homeowner and professional alike." --The Designer

"A book for thinking gardeners who really want to take the time to know their plants and understand how their plants live and work together as a sustainable community. Armed with this knowledge, gardeners will be free to actually spend time enjoying their gardens." --A Garden of Possibilities

"If you're dreaming of a low-maintenance, lush, perennial garden this spring, then Roy Diblik's new book should be your planting bible. It provides dozens of fresh, detailed plans and gorgeous color photographs of easy-care yet stunningly artistic gardens." --Garden Variety News

"The first half of the book covers site preparation, planting, care, maintenance, and of course, key plants for the author's 'know maintenance' system. Diblik shows you how to reduce garden chores to only minutes a week. You will learn when to plant and water, and how to weed strategically." --Michigan Gardener

"Diblik gives plant combination advice to make his lower maintenance, sustainable, and environmentally friendly technique work well and provide beauty year round." --Journal Times

"The nuts and bolts of success with perennial flowers along with 62 sample garden designs and 74 high-performing, low-care perennial plants." --Patriot-New

From the Back Cover:

Looking for a lush, gorgeous, low-maintenance perennial garden? Roy Diblik's Know Maintenance system shows you the way. Choose from 62 plans, each designed to fill a 10- by 14-foot space. Every plan tells you which plants you need and shows you where to place them. There are plans for sun and shade, and for an array of different moods and color schemes. The plans are like building blocks to arrange any way you want. Have limited space? Select a single plan or use part of one. For large spaces, simply repeat a plan or combine it with others.

Best of all, the Know Maintenance system will show you how to reduce garden chores to only minutes a week. You'll learn when to plant and water, how to weed strategically, and how to relax and enjoy the garden of your dreams.

Noted plantsman and designer Roy Diblik has spent more than 30 years studying, growing, and enjoying plants. He is the owner of Northwind Perennial Farm, a nursery in Burlington, Wisconsin, and is best known as the plantsman behind the Lurie Garden at Millennium Park in Chicago.

About this edition

• Publisher: Timber Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1604693347
• ISBN 13: 9781604693348
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240