Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Gorgeously illustrated with color photographs and garden design plans, "The Exotic Garden" convincingly maintains that the luxurious foliage, texture and bloom of tropical plants will work in any garden, providing you can give the plants house room during winter.

There are separate chapters for designing tropical gardens, borders and beds, planting and caring for containers, and the care tropicals require. Many of Iversen's ideas combine tropicals with temperate-zone plants, and he uses color, leaf texture and height throughout for striking effects.
The last 30-plus pages offer a glossary of 100 tropical plants. Each entry includes a color photo, the plant's origin, decorative interest (foliage or flowers), culture characteristics, height, propagation (cutting or seed, season, time to maturity), horticultural use and overwintering needs. Iversen also provides mail-order sources.
An attractive book with ideas to fit anyone's garden.

This book gives the reader a great guide, in both text, photos and designs, to planting exotic plants in every type of climate. It's an easy read for both the novice and more experienced gardener. In addition, it's a wonderful picture book with its lush, detailed photos. Even if you're not a dedicated gardener, it gives hope that those beautiful pictures could happen in your own yard!

If you love the tropical look in gardening as much as I do, then this book is a must have. So many ideas to mull over and so many pictures of tropical gardens in a cool climate that you will think you are in the real tropics. I know I will be grabbing this book throughout the winter off my bookcase shelves.

This book is a must-have. I had Dr. Iversen as a professor at SUNY-Farmingdale and reading this book is like sitting in one of his classes or lectures. It is very clearly written and eloquent, and very informative, explaining everything from the culture and history of tropical plants, designing gardens, to the care and planting of tropicals, with beautiful photography. The SUNY-Farmingdale tropical garden is a beautiful site to see on campus. I have my own tropical container garden with my banana trees and angel trumpets by my back door at my apartment during the warm weather and inside my apartment in the cool weather. This book is excellent and should be on everyone's bookshelf.

Dr. Iversen's book is full of wonderful ideas on using tender perennials and annuals for an exotic look in stunning combinations. In addition, there is a guide on how to care for and overwinter these plants.

I had the pleasure of studying under Dr. Iverson at SUNY Farmingdale. This man knows his plant material and how to use it effectively in challenging landscapes and spaces. If you are a northern gardener looking for some new ideas instead of the same hum-drum gardens buy this book ! This man got me to learn the Latin for some 200 plants..trust me you will close the book and have learned something.