The Well-Tempered Garden is for gardeners who have not been dragged into this pursuit but are here because they love it. So writes Christopher Lloyd in the Introduction to this superb book. Here the beginning gardener will learn the basic skills of planting, pruning, weeding, staking, and deadheading. More advanced gardening enthusiasts are guided through ways to propagate plants, to select and care for different kinds of plants - perennials, shrubs, climbers, bulbs - and are also offered ideas about the many different kinds of gardens one might keep. He offers advice on roses, vegetables, fruits, ornamental plants, wild gardening in grass, and more.A strong-minded instructor, Lloyd knows that errors are inevitable, and rather than scolding encourages learning through experience. He opens our eyes to the beauty of the unexpected surprises that happen in the garden, whether on the part of the fallible plant or the fallible gardener. All this from the man Henry Mitchell called possibly the best garden writer alive.