Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover

Tracy DiSabato-Aust.
50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants.
Portland, Ore.: Timber Press, 2008.
paper, 168 pp., ISBN 978–0–8819–2950–8, $16.95.

This book features 50 easy-care plants, perennials, trees, and shrubs with exciting colors, textures, and scents. They are genuine showstoppers that do not need a great deal of pampering while maintaining multi-seasonal interest. Each plant featured in this work is described according to 12 low-maintenance criteria devised by the author, along with plant specifics and photographs.

One might argue that this book features plants that are to be enjoyed, rather than being enslaved to them. They will bring excitement to your garden with their beauty and functionality. Because many are native plants, they indeed are environmentally sound.

This book ends with details on sources for all of the plants as well as a bibliography.

— Elaine Juhl, master gardener and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.