Product Description

Meant primarily for gardeners in USDA zones 8--10, The Tropical Look encompasses most of the southern U.S. and the West Coast. This groundbreaking encyclopedia of lush plants will also be useful to gardeners in other zones who are interested in growing tropical-looking plants (as opposed to strictly tropical plants, which cannot endure a frost) as half-hardy, annual, or conservatory plants.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #608870 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 524 pages

Review
"It's margarita time! If you're looking for a banana that can bounce back from zero-degree temperatures or plants that merely look tropical, this book has them, along with 400 color photographs." Boston Globe, December 3, 1998

"The essential book for anyone interested in tropical plants." John Van de Water, Newark Star-Ledger, October 7, 1998

"This new encyclopedia is the most updated guide to these lush plants." American Gardener, September/October 1998

"It's margarita time! If you're looking for a banana that can bounce back from zero-degree temperatures or plants that merely look tropical, this book has them, along with 400 color photographs."
—Boston Globe, December 3, 1998 (Boston Globe )

"The essential book for anyone interested in tropical plants."
—John Van de Water, Newark Star-Ledger, October 7, 1998 (Newark Star-Ledger )

"This new encyclopedia is the most updated guide to these lush plants."
—American Gardener, September/October 1998 (American Gardener )

About the Author
Robert Lee Riffle (1940–2006) was an internationally recognized authority on palms and tropical plants. His first two books, An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms (co-written with Paul Craft) and The Tropical Look: An Encyclopedia of Dramatic Landscape Plants (1998) each won an American Horticultural Society Book Award.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
MEGASKEPASMA (meh-gas'-ke-PAZ-ma)

Acanthaceae: The Acanthus Family

BRAZILIAN RED-CLOAK

Large herbaceous shrub; immense ovate leaves; gigantic terminal red flower spikes

Zones 10b and 11 as a permanent perennial; zone 9b as a returning perennialSun to partial shade

Average but regular amounts of moisture

Average well-drained soil

Propagation by cuttings
A monotypic genus that occurs naturally in southern Venezuela.
Megaskepasma erythrochlamys
(e-rit'-ro-KLAY-mis) (synonym Adhatoda cydoniifolia) is a magnificent shrub with a grotesque botanical name. It grows to at least 6 feet in height and, without frost, often to 10 or even 12 feet. The leaves are a foot, sometimes more, long, and are elliptical to ovate in shape with a prominent and lighter colored (rarely pink) large midrib and slightly depressed lateral veins, which give somewhat of a quilted effect to the blade. The plants bloom mainly in the fall through the spring, but summer blooms are not uncommon. The erect terminal inflorescence is a foot or more tall and consists of closely packed large scarlet to purplish red bracts enclosing elongated arching two-lipped white flowers, which peek out in the same manner as those of Justicia brandegeana (shrimp plant). This shrub is breathtaking in the landscape as a tall background subject underplanted with almost anything that is not as tall; one of the most intriguing partners is the shrimp plant whose more subtle flower colors are extremely complementary with those of the red-cloak. The plant in bloom is shockingly spectacular when one first encounters it because of its unexpected size in leaf and flower cluster. This shrub has soared in popularity in the 1990s. Plate 279, above.

1999 AmericanHorticultural Society Annual Book Award Winner

Customer Reviews

sorry I can't agree
okay, I know some readers gave this 5 stars but I was rather disappointed with the photo's in this book considering the price. The pics to me were quite small generally. Additionally, there are only photo's for a few of the plants described. Most of the entries had no illustrations at all. In other words, let's say there are an average of 4-6 plants described for each 2 page spread, {left and right}, there might be one, very infrequently two, very small, washed out looking photos for only one out of all the plants listed on that page. Also, I have to say that the pictures in general were not only small but they also seemed like they were very old; ie.. rather like drab pics from someone's 1964 honeymoon in Hawaii. For what are incredibly colorful and dramatic plants, these small pictures seemed almost monochromatic! {and considering the subject matter I would consider this an almost criminal offense !!}. Sorry to be so critical but there it is; this is actually the first book I have ever had to return that I bought from Amazon and the first book put out by Timber Press that I was not utterly thrilled with. Normally Timber Pr. can be counted on for really fantastic stuff. In fact they have a few other titles that cover the same material much better than this. I highly recommend you take a look at those before you fork over the $'s for this one. My apologies to the author.

I love THE TROPICAL LOOK!
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" - a must have book for plant lovers.
"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.