Timber Press Pocket Guide to Palms

The introduction provides a brief presentation on "Palm Structure, Palm Habitat, Palms in the Landscape, Pruning, Aesthetic Concerns, Human Safety, and Health of the Palm". These sections are brief but the information is good and a pleasure to read. The intro is followed by several pages listing palms in various categories such as water preference, growth rate, soil type, size, salt tolerance, and climate range (all by Latin names). This is a handy section for selecting a palm to read more about later in the book. The heart of the book is an A to Z (by Latin name) encyclopedia style presentation of palms. Each entry includes common names and a general description of size (height, width, trunk, crownshaft, and leaves), fruit, growth rate, climate, sun exposure, water needs, soil preference, indoor use, and seed germination. The entries are somewhat brief but pack in a lot of information. There are 1 to 3 pictures of each palm. The book is physically not large (it is a nice size), but the pictures are good. It is a great book for a novice like myself who is seeking to plant a few "wisely" selected species of palm tree. Organization by Latin name is not a problem, the index includes both Latin and common names. Add Betrock's "Essential Guide to Palms" for a great complimentary reference. One negative: the hardiness zone map at the end of the book is poor.

If you are looking for a good book on palm trees with a general coverage of the subject, this is the book to get. The author was a recognized authority on palms, but he passed away in 2006, and when this book goes out of print, it may become very difficult to find. The descriptions of palms are a little skimpy so you may not be able to use the book to determine what kind of a palm you have, but the book does an outstanding job of providing you the basic information you need to grow and care for the palms listed within (about 200 species). This is an excellent first book for someone that wants to grow their expertise on palms.

Not a lot of palm books out there. This seems to answer questions that my children have.

The Timber Press Pocket Guide to Palms contains information not usually found in other books on palms. Some books assume prior knowledge on the subject, and others treat palms somewhat superficially. This book not only provides detailed descriptions of the palms, but also provides information as to proper cultivation and care. The photos are excellent and are selected to illustrate the properties being discussed in the text.

The book is ok, not great. It goes into a detailed description of the parts of palm trees, but has no diagram to show what it's actually talking about. Gives climate region data such as "9a" and "9b" but the provided map doesn't show region 9 divided into a and b regions.

This is a good guide to palm trees from around the world. The only bummer was that 90% of the palms in the book, (especially this coolest ones) won't grow where I live. Other than that, it is packed with information like size, origin, climate zone, how to grow from seed and of course lots of photos.

Again another book purchase for my Alzheimer-y Mom. This is a small book but contains lots of pictures which was one of my priorities. Mom hardly reads anymore but can be kept busy flipping pages looking at pictures. I will use this book for landscaping purposes. My only complaint is we already own a Canary Island Palm. There was nothing about Canary Island palm seeds. I had to research on the internet to find out you need both a male and female near each other to get the seed production. Also I hate throwing out those fronds. I wish the book had included suggestions for frond use like weaving.........

Lived in New York for 50+ years, now live in Florida. We've found this Guide to Palms to be very interesting. We especially love all the actual photos of the palm trees and the info on them. This paperback is easy to read and will come in handy while visiting the local nurseries in order to do landscaping in our yard.

大体の基本種は押えてあります。眺めているだけで癒されます。勿論英語なので其のままでは読めないですけど・・・携帯の翻訳アプリ必須ですね。鞄に入る大きさなので携帯して電車等でも読めます。＾＾

Palm definitions and descriptions are covered well but there is nothing on how to care for them which was disappointing.