[.ca] Hot Plants for Cool Climates: Gardening with Tropical ... (ISBN 0881927198)

From Amazon.com:
Using flamboyant plants to evoke tropical gardens is the hottest trend in the gardening world, perhaps best described as the "banana and canna" style of garden design. Hot Plants for Cool Climates makes clear, for those of us without greenhouses or the time and muscles to dig and wrap plants for winter, that this look can be achieved by using tropical-looking hardy plants or by planting container gardeners that can be moved indoors before first frost. Most tropical plants are perennial in their native habitats, and if we lived in Hawaii, we too could grow agaves, Elephant's Ear, and Angel's Trumpet outdoor year-round. For those of us who garden in less benign climates, the authors give instructions on mulching and wrapping such plants to protect them from freezes. It involves straw and burlap and leaves the plants looking like mummified little soldiers, but able to withstand temperatures 20 degrees lower than without protection. The gardens pictured in the plentiful color photographs are certainly tempting, as they overflow with huge leaves, flashy foliage, exotic flowers, ponds and vines, all combined into the rich tapestry of a jungle. You can almost smell the jasmine and hear the chattering of the parrots. Thankfully, the chapter on hardy plants for the tropical look (bamboos, grasses, hardy bananas, ferns, Petasites) puts this style of garden within the reach of most gardeners, no matter if they live in Minnesota or California. Especially useful are the appendices, which list plants for a variety of design situations and a source list for the plants recommended throughout the book. --Val Easton

If only the content lived up to the title!:
When I first saw the title of this book, I thought it was exactly what I was looking for. But that turned out to be because conceptual accuracy was sacrificed for verbal cleverness on the cover. The book has little to do with gardening in temperate zones (horticulturally understood to be climates free from extremes of heat or cold), or cool climates (horticulturaly understood to mean climates with heat-deprived summers). To the contrary, the book presumes that the gardener lives where there is a significant season of sustained heat, during which time plants will quickly establish themselves from plant-and-pull frost protection measures or regenerate as root-hardy returning perennials. The book is aimed at gardeners in the East; West Coast gardeners will probably be happier with books that advocate attaining the "tropical look" with plants that feature year-round outdoor hardiness and don't require summer heat to perform well.

pretty hot:
The back of the book is helpful, the pictures throught the book are good, but not really inspiring. I'd recommend this book for beginners getting into tropicals. but if your looking for more this wouldn't be the best book for you.

Chicago Bananas and pineapples:
Tropical gardening here in the the Midwest has been a passion of mine for over 20 years. I never thought of it as different just big annuals. Thats what I liked about Susan's and Dennis's approach to this book. It was really laid back there just plants was the feeling I was getting from reading this book. They didn't make it complicated. I liked the real expectations they had in the book no hype about growing you own table ready bananas in Maine or something crazy like that just pure and simple you are growing them for the foliage effect don't get carried away. Bananas are just big cannas and brumansias are really big coleus they put it simple and gave great advice and the garden shots are great a real inspiration. The over wintering section was worth the price of the book.

An informative good read:
Hot Plants for Cool Climates is a very informative book, with all the new and unusual plants hitting the market these days it makes a great reference. The chapters on design, containers and overwintering are especially informative. I garden on a small terrace where everything has to be in containers and look great all summer, tropicals really work wonderfully in this situation. I can't wait to try some new and exciting plants this year!

An excellent resource:
As a professional horticulturist gardening in zones 5 through 7, I have searched high and low for a good reference book on tropical and subtropical plants. At last I have found it! Hot Plants for Cool Climates is informative, interesting and well-organized. The design suggestions are new and exciting, and the encyclopedia is stuffed with detailed information regarding cultivation. Particularly helpful were the cultivar names listed under each species (god help me, how did they ever whittle down the list under Coleus?) and the overwintering tips. Serious amateurs and professionals alike will benefit from owning this book.