Product Description

Based on the author's 30-year study with over 50,000 plants, "The Complete Book of Cacti and Succulents" offers a photographic A-Z which profiles more than 300 plants, with practical advice for propagating and cultivating them and imaginative ideas for display. The expert advice, supported by step-by-step photographs, covers subjects ranging from handling spiky plants to identifying pests and diseases. Catering both to enthusiastic beginners and ardent cactophiles around the world, this should be a useful sourcebook of plant species advice, ideas and inspiration.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2673136 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent book- great info.- great photos!
Terry Hewitt's Complete Book of Cacti & Succulents may not exactly be complete (it is not an encyclopedia), but it is thorough and is an excellent book especially for beginners. Hewitt discusses the anatomy and discovery of cacti/succulents, how to plant them, propogate them, how to keep them healthy, and even discusses how best to display the plants. And of course the most important part: the plant catalog. He covers hundreds of cacti and succulents in full color. In addition to the many desert cacti I'm happy to say that Hewitt also covers epiphytic cacti including aporocactus, aporophyllum, epiphyllum, and the Christmas cacus. In the back of the book the author includes Plant Selection Lists. In these lists he lists the plants that are best for beginners, as indoor pot plants, those that are easy to flower, those that grow best in the different climates, etc. And I again want to stress the many, many beautiful, clear full color photos throughout the book.

This should be on the shelf of all cacti collectors.
I recommend this book to all cacti collectors, especially beginners. I have more than a dozen cacti book on my shelf but this book, with its colorful plant catalogue, stands out to be my most referenced book. The other book than I also refer to frequently (and would also highly recommend) is "Cacti: The illustrated Dictionary" by Preston-Mafham. There are a few reasons for my love for this book by Terry Hewitt. Firstly, its plant catalogue, while not matching Preston-Mafham's book in terms of number of species illustrated, contains more than a 100-plus of the most commonly grown cacti and succulents. You will therefore, still most likely find a new plant that you've just acquired in the book. Incidentally, this is in contrast to Preston-Mafham's book, which only illustrates globular cacti; it has nothing on other form of cactus and succulents. Secondly, Terry Hewitt gives a very succinct description of each species, giving information such as their natural habitat, flowering habits and other characteristics and needs of the plant. Thirdly, the book contains other equally useful chapters on propagation, care and pest control. This beautiful book should definitely be on the shelf of all cacti and succulents collectors.

Excellent reference, not just for beginners
If you had to limit yourself to just one book, this should be that book.

For novices, this book has excellent basic advice for getting started, including many pictures and of how to display and plant them. For those with more experience, the book is a handy first reference before searching a specialized botanical tome.

This book makes the specific point that (popular, commonly available) cacti are no more difficult to grow than any other house plant.

The book thoroughly covers the needs of these plants, including what kind of soil, how much water, what temperature and amount of light they prefer.

The largest section has all of the popular genera, including the tropical varieties. This section has excellent photography of the plants at their best. If a person had a cactus that's in this book, that person would very likely be able to identify it from the descriptions and pictures. The book usually describes the distinguishing feature that classifies the plants of that type.

Typical and maximum sizes are given, along with the plants' growth habits and the age at which they first flower (some varieties do not flower until they are many years old).

Also included in this section is the hardiness, or how cold the plants can get before they die. If you don't live where these plants naturally grow, this is very important information. For instance, many kinds of cactus grow where it snows in the winter and can be grown outdoors in most of the USA.

At least one of each of the different general forms of cactus is shown: columnar cacti, prickly-pear types, barrel types, etc.

Following the section on specific cacti is a fairly representative section on popular succulents. There are so very many different kinds of succulents in the world, even a book ten times thicker would barely scratch the surface. This book concentrates on those species which are most commonly planted alongside cactus.

The lists at the back of the book are almost worth the price of the book itself. There are lists that categorize cacti and succulents in every which way, including many species that were not pictured or discussed in the main sections. There are lists by how easy the plants are to grow ("easy", "moderate", "difficult"), lists by temperature range ("cool", "temperate", "hot"), and other useful groupings. These lists help make this book continually valuable, even as one's experience and knowledge grows beyond the basics.

This author (Terry Hewitt) has written other books on cacti and succulents. Those books are also excellent, and worth purchasing for the unique information that they contain, but mainly as supplements to this book.

There are also other excellent cactus books that are more complete, but also more technical - or more specialized (for instance, there is an entire reference work on just the "opuntia" (prickly-pear) species).

This book is perfectly written for the average amateur cactus lover.