Garden book of the week: 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants

  

The tagline or subtitle of Tracy Disabato-Aust's new book, 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants , is "Tough-but-Beautiful Plants That Anyone Can Grow."  Bold assertion, but after reading the book, I think it's true.

When I was a young gardener, I stuck plants in the ground and hoped they would grow like the ones in the magazines.  The operative word here is "stuck."  I knew enough to amend the soil.  However, I didn't know which plants thrived in my central Oklahoma climate.  I lost a lot of plants those beginning years.  If I'd had a book like Disabato-Aust's, I could have saved myself a lot of time and money.

The plants are arranged alphabetically by botanical name. Although this may make it more challenging for the average, American gardener, who has been raised on common names, I like that she lists botanical names first.  We need educate ourselves in order to know specifically what we're buying and growing.  Under the botanical name, Disabato-Aust then lists the common name.  For each plant profile, there is a sidebar of "Tracy's Notes" which displays information like whether the plant likes sun or shade and its hardiness zone.  I really enjoyed the personal tone of Disabato-Aust's profiles.  They are approximately a page and a half, and at the end, she provides her readers with a low-maintenance checklist.  Each plant has a full page photo, which is often a closeup.  Smaller, inset photos showcase other aspects of the plant.

New gardeners will enjoy this book because it is not as text heavy as her previous works, and I can confirm that many of the plants listed perform extremely well in the Oklahoma climate.  Some, like Acanthus spinosus, spiny bear's breeches, need to be grown in dappled sunlight and given ample irrigation to survive our hot summers.  I know because I once killed one.  This year, I plan to replace mine when I make a trip to Bustani Plant Farm in Stillwater if they have any left.

Although I believe this book is geared toward newer gardeners, I found several plants I have an interest in trying. 

Disabato-Aust is also the author of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques and The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs, two other design books you might want to check out.