"In the last twenty years, more Americans have begun more ambitious gardens with less information and less help than at any time in the last two centuries. Little wonder that many of us are suddenly feeling the need to reassess our gardening and our gardens. This gracefully written, endlessly informative book shows us how our gardens grow and change over time and how we grow and develop with them." "Patricia Thorpe addresses those passionate gardeners who are just beginning to realize how much they still have to learn. This is the first book to describe, in a light but no-nonsense tone, what happens to a garden after it has been growing for several years. Learn how to cope with instant-gratification overplanting, which can look good for two years and terrible for the rest of your life; deal with border burnout; and find out why perennials may not be the plants of your dreams. Do a plant postmortem to figure out why some die and others survive, even when you wish they wouldn't. Consider, possibly for the first time, some of the ecological questions that face gardeners today. And discover on every page the wealth of plants you could be growing as well as the unexpected ways you could be using them."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved