The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants

I have been tropical gardening for almost 20 years here in the Midwest. I am always trying new things and combinations. It was great to finally get the book. What a treasure of information. I used it to do a 50 banana display last year in my garden. The pictures were so rich that I wanted to grow all of them. This book is great for the intermediate gardener. You have to have some idea of what your doing to get the most out of this book. I liked that all the plants were together not seperated so if I didn't know it was a shrub or a tree I could find it. The cheat sheet at the start of each genus entry was great it made scanning the book for something easier. All in All a great book

I've recently purchased several books on gardening with tropical plants, and this one stood head and shoulders above the rest. The encylopedic format and alphabetical listing make it extremely easy to find any given plant, it's well illustrated with high-quality color photos, the descriptions are thorough and informative, and best of all for those of us outside the tropics, it gives hardiness zones for most plants, which most other books on tropical plants neglect.

"The Tropical Look" is a book that has great value to plant lovers and gardeners no matter what their climatic zone. Mr. Riffle has captured the essence of the plants he describes and has added value to the reader by detailing how these plants, hardy or tender, will fit into a "tropical look" landscape. No matter where you live you will enjoy the vivid descriptions and accurate botanical descriptions and names of the plants in this book. Plants, and their Latin names are always in a state of flux - Mr. Riffle has done a commendable job in selecting the names and descriptions that are accepted by the scientific community. His vivid word portrayals paint a "mind picture" that allows the reader to visualize each of the many plants he describes. As a "palm specialist" I especially enjoyed the accuracy of his descriptions for this specialized group of plants. Accurate information for this group of plants is lacking in the literature, and this book greatly adds to our knowledge of palm horticulture. It is easy to see that Bob Riffle is not just a "backyard gardener" who collects plants - he has a scientific mind that collects information and distills it into the written word that we all can read and understand. No matter what your level of plant expertise you can learn a great deal from this book. It is no wonder that it has already won so many prestigious botanical book awards. If you enjoy plants, particularly those that will provide you with the ability to provide a tropical look, then you should definitely purchase this book. I highly recommend it to all.

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!

The Tropical Look is a fantastic addition to my husband's gardening library. We dearly love the tropical look, and many people don't realize how many tropical-looking plants will thrive in temperate zones. Everything we grow is in this book, but my reasons for liking this book are many. It includes a zone map for the US and Europe too. It explains the importance of referring to plants by their botanical names, and then helps overcome the verbal stumbling blocks by including a pronunciation key. It also explains that many plants which look tropical are able to withstand freezes and offers some methods for growing these plants in zones 7 or less. The format is also easy to use for quick reference. Each plant has a list indicating briefly the description, zone rating, sun preference, water requirements, soil preference, and method of propagation.