Tropical Plants for Home and Garden Paperback – March 1, 2006

Tropical Plants for Home and Garden by William Warren is a beautifully done coffee table/reference book on many of the more commonly grown plants in the tropics. The paperback version is my second copy--having purchased the hardback edition a year ago. There is not a lot of cultural information given on the plants--it is a book devoted to plants, not a book on tropical gardening. Luca Invernizzi Tettoni's photographs, however, are vivid and very helpful in identification of the species. I am a writer of garden books, as well as the executive director of a tropical botanical garden, so I am very familiar with the plants in this book. I would recommend "Tropical Plants for Home and Garden" to anyone who gardens in Zones 10-11. Even those who live "up north" would enjoy it as a "tropical getaway".No one book is perfect, but we have many of William Warren's books on tropical plants/gardens in our reference library, and I have found all of them to be well written and to the point.

Neither a good specimen guide nor glamorous coffee table showpiece, this nonetheless fills a gap in my growing library of tropical gardening books. It could be a nice introduction to tropical plants, but anyone who wants to actually garden with tropical specimens would be better served by other books, perhaps best of all, Gardening in the Tropics, ISBN: 0881923095 .As one reviewer points out, there are several silly mistakes. It is telling that the publisher is known for style & design books. It needed an editor with a little more botanical savvy.The format is clear and attractive, with huge photos and a little, nicely written text for each. The content is somewhat inconsistent. While many photographs are clear and nicely illustrative of the whole plant, some specimens are photographed in a massive mixed border some distance away. Identification, therefore, can be very frustrating. For every delight (there are, indeed, many gorgeous photos), there is a disappointment.Nomenclature seemed inconsistent, and local names (Indonesia, Malaysia, etc) could have been supplied by these contributors who spend much of their time in southeast Asia.There is no practical advice for a gardener (beyond the occasional note about something tolerating dry conditions or some such), but book doesn't pretend to be a guide book.

Gift for my husband.He loves the book

fast and nice book

Great

Really a nice quality book. It's difficult to find books that provide good, clear photos. Wonderful coverage for its size. A real pleasure to just browse through and an excellent tool for identification. Shows not just the common plants but a few of the less known.

The thing I liked the best about this book is the beautiful color photos of the plants in their native habitats/gardens ( all of the plants were identified!!). This helps present a unique view of these wonderful plants.Much more than the usual hibiscus, bouganvillea, and mandevilla pictures.I also enjoyed seeing the RANGE of plants shown. I live in Maryland but collect tropicals and got quite a few ideas from the photos. I also enjoyed the "trip" through these beautiful tropical gardens. It helped me learn more ways to use and combine these incredible plants!I think the book is fresh, and unique and anyone who loves tropicals will make this one of their favorite books in their collection. Well worth the money.My FAVORITE book on tropicals to date. Second to BETROCK's FLORIDA PLANT GUIDE by Edward F. Gilman.

This book is the companion to 'The Tropical Garden' by the same author, and maintains the same high standards.The book is well-organized with a large selection of some of the best known species of tropical plants. Concise but informative descriptions of each species are provided complete with the scientific and common names. The highlight, however is the superb full-color photographs that accompany every entry. While lacking in hints for the budding gardener, this book provides plenty of inspiration as well as probably the best pictorial summary of the subject matter currently in print.

Very usefull for plant lovers and Architects