Product Description

Co-written by the author of the award-winning The Tropical Look, An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms offers a definitive account of palms that may be grown in the garden and landscape. Because palms are often underutilized as a result of their unfamiliarity---even to tropical gardeners---Robert Lee Riffle and Paul Craft have exhaustively documented every genus in the palm family. Approximately 890 species are described in detail, including cold hardiness, water needs, height, and any special requirements. No gardener or landscaper who reads this book should ever again lose a palm solely because of lack of horticultural information.

Generously illustrated with more than 900 photos, An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms is as valuable as an identification guide as it is a practical handbook. The volume even contains photos of several palm species that have never before appeared in a general encyclopedia. Interesting snippets of history, ethnobotany, and biology inform the text and make this a lively catalog of these remarkable plants.

As well as all of the tropical and subtropical palms, the encyclopedia includes many species that can withstand freezing; thus it is applicable for areas where average low temperatures do not drop below 5ºF (-15ºC).

Many features of the book add to its usefulness for the amateur or professional grower. Extensive landscape lists group together palms with special characteristics, such as drought tolerance, salt tolerance, and slow growth, to name a few. A unique appendix with notes on germinating seed of selected palms will prove invaluable to gardeners and nursery professionals who wish to grow palms from seed. In all, An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms offers a wealth of information to horticulturists at every level of experience.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68770 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 528 pages

Review
"As a horticultural librarian, I am constantly looking for good books on palms, and I can tell you that this book is at the top of the list. Not only is it useful, accurate, and authoritative, but the authors' poetic language brought life to the book."—Laurie Hannah, American Gardener, May/June 200 (Laurie Hannah American Gardener )

"This ultimate, expansive resource on cultivated palms will guide horticulturists with all levels of expertise ... Highly recommended."—S. C. Awe, Choice, September 2003 (S. C. Awe Choice )

As a horticultural librarian, I am constantly looking for good books on palms, and I can tell you that this book is at the top of the list. Not only is it useful, accurate, and authoritative, but the authors' poetic language brought life to the book.Laurie Hannah, American Gardener, May/June 200 (American Gardener )

This ultimate, expansive resource on cultivated palms will guide horticulturists with all levels of expertise ... Highly recommended.S. C. Awe, Choice, September 2003 (Choice )

About the Author
Paul Craft trained as a chemist and is vice president of the International Palm Society. A resident of Florida, he was the founding president of the Palm Beach Palm and Cycad Society and also a palm nurseryman. He is currently active in efforts to promote palm conservation.

Robert Lee Riffle resides and gardens in Fort Pierce, Florida. His landmark book, The Tropical Look, won the American Horticultural Society Book Award in 1999. Formerly a manager of a nursery specializing in tropical plants, he has traveled extensively throughout the tropics. Riffle received a degree in music from Centenary College and briefly pursued studies in botany at the University of Texas, Austin.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Palms are the most underused design elements in nearly every garden, even most of those in the tropics or subtropics. Fortunate indeed are gardeners who live in regions where at least a few palms grow, as their unique variety of forms cannot begin to be simulated by anything other than massive ferns, yuccas, and cordylines, which themselves are tropical or subtropical.

The biggest reason these princes of the plant world are eschewed even where they can be grown is probably lack of space: most palms species are relatively large. This problem is compounded by the gardener's desire for color. The desire is, of course, an important one, but color is greatly overused at the expense of variety of form. The smaller the garden, the more the use of color alone tends to become overwhelming and even tiring, somewhat analagous to eating a diet of cake and ice cream only, or listening to only one type of music. Variety is the operative word and is what palms excel at with their ineluctably different forms. In addition, palms are often coloful, especially the tropical species. Their crownshafts, inflorescences, and leaf colors are sometimes extraordinary. Palms lend to the landscape a more controlled and subtle color palette than that of most "flowering plants."

A few points should be considered when incorporating palms into the landscape. First, palms don't look good planted in straight lines, but what type of plant does? This arrangement is unnatural in the sense that it doesn't occur in nature. The larger palms are magnificence itself when lining streets or avenues, but the dictum still applies: a curving street, path, or driveway is infinitely more aesthetically pleasing than a straight one where variety is the missing element.

Second, palms generally look their best when planted in small groups or groves rather than as a single tree surrounded by space. Again, the reason is that palms do not occur singly in nature. Furthermore the discrete groups look best when the number of individuals are of varying heights; if each palm is the same height, the crowns visually "fight." Variety is the missing element in groups of same-height palms.

Third, a landscape whose horizon is basically at one level is incredibly less interesting and beautiful than one of varying levels. Nothing fixes the imbalance better than using palms as canopy-scapes, where the crowns of trees float above the general level of the surrounding vegetation. Such palms substitute remarkably well for a lack of mountains. Again, variety of form!

Fourth, the wall of vegetation that constitutes the horizon of the garden is so much less appearling if it is of one form or of one color. There are no plants better suited to fix this than palms, whether large or small, fan leaved or feather leaved. Palms are the sine-qua-non elements to create the needed form and texture. Again, variety of form!

A few palm species are so large and impressive that they can be advantageously planted alone as specimen plants surrounded by space and still look good. They would look even better if planted in groups, but the size or other limitations of a given landscape or garden can often make this difficult or impossible.

Customer Reviews

Best Palm Reference on the Market
There is no other comparable book on the market. It treats ALL 192 genera of palms currently known to science. The photos are excellent and are comparable to those of Riffle's award-winning first book, THE TROPICAL LOOK. The text is even better than the photos and includes observations and experiences from many long-time growers worldwide.

I don't understand the Canadian review which seems to fault the book because some of the palm species cannot be grown in much of the continental USA. Go far enough north and NONE of them can be grown! This is simply a fact of nature, not a fault of the book.

An Excellent Photographic Reference for Palm Enthusiasts
This is one of the most complete reference guides for anyone who has ever wondered about palm trees. The scientific treatment of the subject is kept to a minimum while the use of palms in the landscape is emphasized. Here the enthusiasm of the authors shines through. The numerous color photographs underscore the point that nearly any landscape need can be satisfied with thoughtful use of palms.

The photographs are snapshot rendered, but in my opinion, any lapse of quality which results is more than compensated by the adequacy of detail.

Though the authors provide notes on seed germination, they avoid a more thorough discussion of propagation. The authors generously supply hints on cultivation of many species covered in the book, but they do not discuss diseases which afflict growing specimens.

There is no doubt that the book is worth the price paid.

Best Overall Palm Reference
This is truly a great book for palm enthusiasts. It has detailed descriptions and photos of most, if not all, of the palm species currently cultivated in the U. S., Australia and Europe and is an invaluable reference for the palm-growing hobbyist. It is not intended to be a "how to" book and shouldn't be criticized because for not discussing planting techniques, fertilization, diseases, etc.

I've bought four copies: one for myself and three for gifts.