Temperate Bamboos (Gardener's Guide) (ISBN 0881924458)

Book Description:
An invaluable guide to bamboos, covering their cultivation, history, propagation, & garden care.

Best Book for US Gardeners:
If you've done a search, you already know how few books there are on the subject of growing bamboo in the temperate climates of the US, Britain and Europe, especially for the enthusiast gardener who is neither a potential farmer nor a botanist. This wonderful new book becomes the #1 choice for its good information, its passionate and readable style, its beautiful photographs, its lists of where to buy bamboo in the US (including mail order), and as the perfect gift for friends who may still have irrational concerns about and little knowledge of this magnificent plant. Bamboo lovers will enjoy every page. If you only buy one book on the subject, buy this one. If you can purchase two books, buy "Bamboos" by Recht as well. For design ideas, consider "A Japanese Touch for Your Garden." Start here, but be warned: once smitten with the beauty and elegance of bamboo, you may want to buy every book on the subject that you can get your hands on.

a cracking book:
Mike Bell has done the gardening world an enormous service with this book.It has been hard to find practical solid info on bamboos-perplexing nomenclature and tales of rampant invasive behaviour have left many cautious and perplexed. This work provides clear practical guidance and is beautifully illustrated.Useful for beginners and comprehensive enough to be an essential purchase for all enthusiasts.

Wasn't What I Had Hoped For:
I'm going to be completely honest here in my assessment of this book. I've been growing bamboo for many years and i once worked for one of the only bamboo nurseries in the USA with a quarantine license. I had hoped this book would have been more. I give Michael Bell some credit for his work, but overall i just was not happy with this book. There are alot of topics in the book that seem RUSHED or that just aren't covered in depth which would have made this book really worthwhile. A good deal of the book is devoted to what he calls an A to Z of Bamboo plant descriptions, but i found this list to be grossly deficient. Some species have only a sentence or two, maybe a very small short paragraph, as a description! Some aren't even listed! Some of them aren't even very accurate or are very generalized and "RUSHED". Even more, the author is very biased towards certain species which seem to have clouded his judgement when reviewing others. Further more, some of the information in this book is just plainly false. Especially where potted plants are concerned, which isn't covered in much depth at all. The book has a very "RUSHED" little section on diseases/insects, which is disappointing with any plant or gardening book. Overall, the book has a "RUSHED" sense about it and in some areas is just plainly wrong or misguiding (telling us certain plants don't do well in pots when they do, or that certain plants grow to this size when they are in fact taller, or that certain plants don't seed or flower when they do and have in recent years). It has some nice pictures but you should definitely purchase a more thorough book on the subject. I gave it 2 stars for effort. I'm sure glad i purchased a few other books to compliment this one. If i were relying on this book alone i'd be in trouble!

A fine overview:
This is an excellent book with terrific photo's. The pictures and text give the history of some bamboo types, leaf/wood samples, use in the garden for both visual effect and to build with. Bamboo's versatility in the garden extends well beyond just adding an Asian flavor to an area. That said, my only critique would be the need for a better way the species can be identified. You can figure out plants to the Genus using this book, but nailing which plant species it is can be foggy. Mr. Bell did a great job introducing a new plant for most gardeners.

great bamboo resource:
I stumbled upon this book before I was about to purchase a bambusa vulgaris. This book was well written, informative and visually appealing. Since, I live out near the water, I needed to know how to care for and successfully grow bamboo in my backyard. With the help of this book, I have maintained a couple of potted bamboo plants outside and a giant one indoors. Helpful to a novice bamboo grower like myself, but also a good reference to keep always.