Customer Reviews

Plants for Tropical Landscapes: A Gardener's Guide

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Plants for Tropical Landscapes addresses everything from ground covers to Palms, Xeriscape to lanais. It contains an impressive number of plants and its simple format makes it a joy to read. The book is clearly organized by the size of the plant, starting from the smallest (ground covers) and working its way up to largest plants in a tropical garden (trees over 50'). Along with beautiful color photographs, the physical characteristics of each plant, light and moisture requirements, preferred soil, wind, drought, and salt tolerance are all given. The authors also suggest practical ways the plants could be used in a tropical setting. This book does not bog the reader down with too many details, but gives everything necessary to plant your tropical garden.

Plants for Tropical Landscapes: A Gardener's Guide is just what I was looking for. Being raised in Hawaii, I have seen many of the plants in this book but don't know many of their names or uses. The authors give just the right amount of information to help you choose the right plant for the right location. It will be nice to help choose our plants with the landscapers instead of letting them make all of the decisions. I also really like the layout of the book which starts at ground covers and moves up in size through shrubs and trees, then on to vines, ferns and palms, etc. The pages have colored edge markings that assist in switching from chapter to chapter. Most of the coolest things included are located in the Appendices that should be extremely useful: Native Hawaiian Species; Xeriscape; Beach Garden; Hedges, Screens & Windbreaks; House & Lanai Plants; and the garden at night.
Even if you just want to know what plants are in your yard, you will enjoy this book. I wish I had paid more attention to my Mom when she tried to teach me about plants way back when...

This is a wonderful book. We are starting from scratch beginning our landscape at our home and I really did not know a lot about all the different plants available! Wow..it is very inspiring and teaches you a lot too. Also, it is great for reference. I go to it often for information.

Although I live in Panama, I found this book excellent in helping me identify plants and trees and their growth characteristics.

This book caught my attention because it's not easy to find books about tropical plants that are not just beautiful photos or advise about how to have them indoors; that's nice, but I need more practical information about how to have tropical plants outside, in their environment, because I'm a novice gardener who lives in Puerto Rico. When I received the book I couldn't wait to get into it, and I have to say that I'm very pleased with the content. It's concise, organized and very easy to use, and if you need more infomation about a particular plant, at least you have it identified, so it's easier to search in additional sources (i.e. internet). In fact, that same day I identified a plant that I thought was just another weed in my yard with a very atractive flower, but actually it is a non-invasive groundcover (that explains why it doesn't have spread all over the yard). So, although I'm on the opposite side of the planet where Hawaii is, I can say I'm already using this book a lot, and enjoying it!

This book is fascinating, beautiful, easy to find things, absolutely a WONDERFUL book ! The plants are broken down by sections - shrubs, vines, trees, etc. The photos are absolutely gorgeous! I will have this book forever and my guests will enjoy looking through the book and identifying the plants we have here at home. (I live in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands)

This is the book that all Hawai'ian plant fans seem to be packing around and referring to as the final word on all things botanically-related in Hawai'i. Who am I to argue?

(Left this as a comment but added to it as a review.) I bought this book a few years ago for my parents' second home in Panama, so we could identify and choose plants, trees, palms we wanted for landscaping their new home. It's been a great resource and I haven't found others that compare. I like the simplicity of the layout, the necessary information provided for choosing the right plants, and the photos. (Be sure to look inside) I'm now buying another copy to give to our nursery owner/friend Lulu in David for her help and perhaps as a guide to show her other customers.

I work as a Certified Arborist (tree expert) in Hawaii. This is my #1 plant reference book. It's well organized by type/size of plant (e.g. - medium tree, small shrub, bamboos/cycads/palms, vines, etc.), has an overview and close-up thumbnail photo per tree and at least one thumbnail photo per other types of plants. The plants are alphabetized by botanical names within each category. After the common name, a "(P)" means toxic sap or plant parts with toxins, "(T)" means thorns or irritating hairs, and "(S)" means skin, mouth, throat, or eye irritation. The brief write-ups about each plant provide indications of the mature size of the plant, what types of soil it needs, whether it's salt tolerant, wind tolerant, drought tolerant, etc. I've recommended it to homeowners who want to know more about the plants in their yards or want to design a new yard and have heard good feedback from them.

This book is for growing plants outdoors in the tropics and subtropics. If you're looking to grow tropical plants indoors in a temperate climate, it may not be of much use.

My sister who also lives here in St. Thomas is a big time gardener but could not find anything to expand her knowledge of the horticulture here until I found this for her birthday. She has been very happy with it so I recommend it.