The Exotic Garden: Designing with Tropical Plants in Almost Any Climate [Hardcover]

Richard R Iversen (Author), Richard R Averson (Author), Richard R Iverson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

The idea of mixing tropical plants with perennials and hardy annuals has been around since Victorian times. It is now enjoying a newfound popularity because tropical plants are more widely available. Gardeners who want to bring the lush beauty of tropicals to an existing garden, or who want to create an authentic vintage garden, will delight in TheExotic Garden. Although tropicals are novelties in temperate climates, they can successfully be grown anywhere. Iversen shows how tropicals can easily be used as annuals to perk up a garden with color during non-blooming seasons. The author's expert advice shows how to grow tropicals in beds, borders, and containers, select and combine plants, and use the tools of color, texture, and form. Plus, there are special overwintering tips and a full color glossary of more than 100 plants.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's nothing new about the temperate gardener's love of hot tropicals: the not-so-secretly sensual Victorians planted lavish, whimsically shaped beds full of palms, giant reeds, and angels' trumpets, many of which still survive. (Of course, manual laborers were easier to come by in the 19th century.) This book shows not only how to re-create this sort of tropical bed and border, but how to fake it on small city plots and patios with tropicals planted in sizeable containers. Author Richard Iversen, who has gardened professionally in Barbados as well as on Long Island, New York, says, "Popping a banana plant into the soil next to an azalea may look exotic, but it doesn't make an exotic garden." His emphasis on color, texture, and form turns this from a book on novelty gardening into a fine garden-design book.

If you crave a bed of exotic plants and are willing to do a bit of extra work, you can grow ficus and canna in Cleveland or Vancouver, but it is important to realize before taking on a tropical garden project that growing them is a year-round proposition, while enjoying them is a six-month pleasure; in colder climates, such as those colder than zones 7 or 8, many tropical and subtropical plants must winter over in a heated area such as a garage or greenhouse. Iversen is good at imparting this kind of careful detail, showing when to dig up tubers and how to store them, and including a picture demonstrating how early spring bulbs can share the garden with later-blooming tropicals. A glossary of 100 tropical plants at the book's end will get gardeners with a passion for the lush and dazzling off to a great start. --Barrie Trinkle

From Publishers Weekly

Aimed at gardeners who, horticulture writer Iversen believes, "crave something new and different" but still "focus on times past," this book reprises the Victorian passion for banana trees, elephant ears and a host of other cold-defying tropical plants. And who better to guide temperate gardeners in tropical matters than a Caribbean transplant? A longtime horticulturist in Barbados, Iversen now resides and gardens on Long Island, where he insists tropicals are "as easy to plant and grow outdoor as a tomato or zucchini." When the author thinks tropical, he thinks fast, flamboyant and fabulous foliage. Most plants mature by midsummer to become autumn showstoppers, and garden design emphasizes foliage and texture over color. Favoring a totally tropical setting, the author spotlights the popular 19th-century lawn beds and garden enclosures, mentioning little about mixing tropicals with traditional American/English perennial, shrub and annual borders. Although gardeners may be awestruck by the "absurd scale" of plants that "defy our prim garden conventions," a chapter on container gardening shows how space need not constrain the dramatic effect of tropical plantings. In smart, spirited prose that suits his subject, Iversen may convince even skeptics that "you don't need a jungle to grow plants from the jungle." Included is a 100-plant glossary and 234 color photos.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 169 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561582328
• ISBN-13: 978-1561582327
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,375,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great guide to tropical plants with great advice, September 27, 1999

By 

Angel Lee "Liocorno Amethyst Moonstone" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Exotic Garden: Designing with Tropical Plants in Almost Any Climate (Hardcover)

If you love tropical plants, but don't live in a tropical climate this is the book for you. It is in full-color with many beautiful photos. The book starts out with lots of design advice on color, texture & form.

Next, tropical plants used in borders, beds & containers are discussed in detail. Then growing the plants is explained. There are step-by-step instructions on planting, maintenance, pest control, & propagation.

There is a great plant glossary listing over 100 tropical plant in the back. It contains information on origin, height, best growing condition, design uses, & overwintering advice. A small photo & written description are also given.

The plants are arranged by family. An index listing common names to family names is will help you locate a specific plant. A resource list is also a nice bonus. With this book you can have plants you would never have imagined.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-have book if you want to grow tropical plants., December 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Exotic Garden: Designing with Tropical Plants in Almost Any Climate (Hardcover)

Fantastic amount of info in this book: everything from planning the garden, preparing the bed, choosing plants, special needs and overwintering. The book includes a long list of suitable plants with descriptions & requirements. If you didn't have an extensive horticultural background to draw on, now you do, and even the expert gardener will find this a handy reference.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great photography, modestly informative, September 6, 2001

By 

Tom Krischan (Big Bend, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Exotic Garden: Designing with Tropical Plants in Almost Any Climate (Hardcover)

The has two main sections. The first section is about garden design and plant care, about 119 pages. It contains 11 pages on tropical environments and habitats. 22 pages on color, form, and texture. 48 pages on tropical borders and beds. 20 pages on containers. 18 pages on growing and propagation.

The second section is 33 pages. It contains an encyclopedia of 96 tropical, or exotic looking, plants. Each plant is described by common name, scientific name, country of origin, growing conditions, propagation tip, overwintering instructions, and a 2 inch photograph of the plant.

The book also contains 2 pages of common names indexed to family names, 4 page topic index, over 130 large full color photographs and dozens of drawings.

The first section about garden design and plant care is good, but not great. Much is the same old information that you can read in most every garden book. Nothing special.

Photography is awesome. Images cover a great variety of plants, design concepts, and unusual situations. Very interesting and informative captions follow each photograph.

The second section which is the tropical plant encyclopedia is great. Information is interesting and content is meaningful. Great layout of information with a photograph of each plant. Too bad this isn't the major concentration of the book - because this section is awesome!

Overall the book is a good general guide to designing with tropical plants. There are sections of great content, but they do not fill the book. Solid information for beginners, although nothing that could not be found in other texts.