Book cover for "The Prairie Gardener's Go-to for Perennials" by Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau. The background is a light tan and in the bottom half is a square watercolor image of pink flowers with whispy tendrils against a deep green background. The title, "Perennials" is in a large, black, bold, serif font and above that in a similar but very small font it reads, "The Prairie Gardener's Go-to for." At the bottom of the image is the two authors' names in a small, black, all caps, serif font reading, "Janet Melrose" on the left and "Sheryl Normandeau" to the right. Book cover is by Tree Abraham.

The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To Guide for Perennials

ISBN 9781771513920
Softcover | Publication Date: March 21, 2023
Book Dimensions: 5.5 in. x 8.5 in.
160 Pages

About the Book

The eighth book in the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series is all about those reliable, grounded plants you can count on: perennials.

Perennials are those species whose stems and leaves die back to their crowns each fall, but whose roots remain alive throughout the non-growing months. They include showy flowers like peonies, poppies, lilies, clematis, and lupine, but also edibles like asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, sunchokes, and rhubarb.

In this guide prairie gardening experts Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau answer questions like

  • What are the best perennials for building biodiversity in my garden?
  • What’s the difference between species, variety, cultivar, and nativar?
  • What kinds of perennials can I grow in containers?
  • When and how do I divide plants once they’re well established?
  • How do I keep enthusiastic re-seeders from taking over?
  • Which of my perennial babies need to be brought inside for the winter?

The pair dedicate a chapter to perennial vegetables and another to mitigating common pests and diseases. The final chapter is a perennial hall of fame, an extended list of recommended plantings for colour, native species, rock gardens, ground cover, fragrance, spring champions, and all-season displays. Janet and Sheryl give you the information you need to make your perennial garden as successful as you can while promoting biodiversity and creating a healthy habitat for pollinators and wildlife.

About the Author(s)

Janet Melrose is a garden educator and consultant, and an advocate for Calgary’s Sustainable Local Food System. She is a life-long gardener and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate. She has a passion for Horticultural Therapy and facilitates numerous programs designed to integrate people marginalized by various disabilities into the larger community. She is a regular contributor to The Gardener for Canadian Climates magazine. She lives in Calgary where she runs her education and consulting company, Calgary’s Cottage Gardener.

Sheryl Normandeau is a life-long gardener, and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Certificate. She is a freelance writer specializing in gardening writing with hundreds of articles published. She is a regular contributor The Gardener for Canadian Climates, The Prairie Garden Annual, Herb Quarterly, and many more. She lives in Calgary.

Reviews

“This go-to paperback addresses many issues of perennial plants that will prove extremely useful to gardeners.” —Calgary Horticultural Society