The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden is a gardening book that encourages you to know and understand how the space you are gardening in and the perennial plants you plant will function with other plants and nature in order for you to do less work and enjoy your garden more. This might be very different from the way some people garden and it will ask you to question why you do the things that you do in your garden.

"This book is about gardening in a new way-one that is in harmony with how plants grow and interact with each other in nature."

You will learn the importance of sunlight, soil type, and water. You will also be encouraged to look at your flowers and plants in a different way, doing an in-depth study of each plant. The best advice I found was not put make a single plant an island in an ocean of mulch. I hate seeing gardens like that! When the plants are closer together, they not only block out weeds from growing, but shares in their own care and maintenance. I liked that the emphasis was on creating plant communities within your garden. I did not like that this book included the use of glyphosate, even though the author states "I have no desire to promote the unnecessary use of chemicals." The perennial plants profiled are intended for the Northern US, so I would suggest looking into whatever native perennials your area would need. Some simple garden plans are also included. A nice, but fairly involved conversation on the philosophy and ecology of gardening.

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review. ( )