The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Robert Lee Riffle (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0881924229 | ISBN-13: 978-0881924220 | Publication Date: August 15, 1998 | Edition: First

Meant primarily for gardeners in USDA zones 8 — 10, The Tropical Look encompasses most of the southern U.S. and the West Coast. This groundbreaking encyclopedia of lush plants will also be useful to gardeners in other zones who are interested in growing tropical-looking plants (as opposed to strictly tropical plants, which cannot endure a frost) as half-hardy, annual, or conservatory plants.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's margarita time! If you're looking for a banana that can bounce back from zero-degree temperatures or plants that merely look tropical, this book has them, along with 400 color photographs."
—Boston Globe, December 3, 1998 (Boston Globe )

"The essential book for anyone interested in tropical plants."
—John Van de Water, Newark Star-Ledger, October 7, 1998 (Newark Star-Ledger )

"This new encyclopedia is the most updated guide to these lush plants."
—American Gardener, September/October 1998 (American Gardener )

Book Description

Meant primarily for gardeners in USDA zones 8-10, The Tropical Look encompasses most of the southern U.S. and the West Coast. This groundbreaking encyclopedia of lush plants will also be useful to gardeners in other zones who are interested in growing tropical-looking plants as half-hardy, annual, or conservatory plants.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 524 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press; First edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881924229
• ISBN-13: 978-0881924220
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars sorry I can't agree, December 28, 2000

By 

P. Arroyo (Long Beach, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants (Hardcover)

okay, I know some readers gave this 5 stars but I was rather disappointed with the photo's in this book considering the price. The pics to me were quite small generally. Additionally, there are only photo's for a few of the plants described. Most of the entries had no illustrations at all. In other words, let's say there are an average of 4-6 plants described for each 2 page spread, {left and right}, there might be one, very infrequently two, very small, washed out looking photos for only one out of all the plants listed on that page. Also, I have to say that the pictures in general were not only small but they also seemed like they were very old; ie.. rather like drab pics from someone's 1964 honeymoon in Hawaii. For what are incredibly colorful and dramatic plants, these small pictures seemed almost monochromatic! {and considering the subject matter I would consider this an almost criminal offense !!}. Sorry to be so critical but there it is; this is actually the first book I have ever had to return that I bought from Amazon and the first book put out by Timber Press that I was not utterly thrilled with. Normally Timber Pr. can be counted on for really fantastic stuff. In fact they have a few other titles that cover the same material much better than this. I highly recommend you take a look at those before you fork over the $'s for this one. My apologies to the author.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love THE TROPICAL LOOK!, June 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants (Hardcover)

This book just received the American Horticultural Society's Garden Book of the Year Award. It's filled with over 400 color photos of tropical and tropical-looking plants from both coasts -- Lotusland in Santa Barbara, the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek CA, the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, Fairchild Tropical Garden in FL, David Fairchild's home in Coral Gables (The Kampong), Texas gardens and various other locations around the country and the world.

The plants are easily found in alphabetical order, first by genus and then by species (with nearly 5,000 species, cultivars and hybrids listed) and the pronounciation of each has been mercifully included. The encyclopedia portion of the book also includes the plant's family name, the plant's common name, the growing zone, light and moisture requirements, special considerations of the plants and how to propagate. The author's obvious love of these plants shows through in the lively descriptions, and when you're reading about a new discovery you have Mr. Riffle sharing your passion for the plant and telling you what you need to know to ensure its survival.

Chapters following the encyclopedia read like horticultural cheat sheets for those of us without formal training who want to learn: If you don't know your leaf shapes from a hole in the ground, illustrations and names are in the back of the book along with illustrations of other leaf terms, inflorescences and stems, and flower shapes and parts. A glossary complements the illustrations with definitions of terms such as "ovate" or "petiole" as well as words commonly used such as "perennial." Also in the back of the book is a conversion chart for fahrenheit to celsius, inches to centimeters and feet to meters along with formulas for conversion if you don't want to take the entire table with you.

Plant lists are included for those with a landscapes to fill and special needs to be addressed such as which plants are salt tolerant, erosion controlling, fast growing or drought tolerant. If you know you want tropical-looking plants but don't know where to begin, there are lists such as ferns, fragrant plants, groundcover plants, shrubs, trees, and hedge and screening plants.

I leave The Tropical Look on the desk and am constantly using it as a reference when reading other garden books or magazine articles. Obviously, I love this book!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better Suited to scholars than Casual Gardeners, June 14, 2004

By 

Curtis Kahnberg (Windsor, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants (Hardcover)

I received the Encyclopedia and found it to be just that. The pictures are all clustered on a few pages in the center of the book while the first and last parts are dedicated to an encyclopedia britannica style listing of the plants without pictures. The plants are alphabetical so it's great if you want to know more about a plant and know it's latin name. If you're looking to flip through a book and pick out the ones you like, this isn't the book for you. I'd recommend Hardy Palms and Palm-Like Plants. It's cheaper, and the plants are grouped together by typs along with pictures and descriptions of each. It may not be as thorough, but it's more helpful for those of us who don't know what we're doing yet.