Perennials also require work.
There are many books on perennial gardening that cover garden design, soil preparation, and selection of materials but fall short on the matter of maintenance. Tracy DiSabato Aust in The Well-Tended Perennial Garden is one of the first perennial experts to focus a book on the hard work but in a way that gives the work a clear purpose, even an esthetic goal. Plant biologists who also enjoy perennial gardening as a hobby will be especially appreciative of the author's scientific approach to the subject. For many years Tracy DiSabato-Aust has been experimenting with various pruning, thinning, and division techniques to keep her perennial garden and those of her landscape clients in peak form. She not only uses pruning techniques to remove spent blooms or diseased plants but also to produce pleasing visual effects.