Hot Plants for Cool Climates: Gardening Wth Tropical ... (ISBN 0881927198)

Amazon.com Review:
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

Book Description:
If you love the lush, exotic look of tropical gardens, but don't live in a tropical climate, this indispensable reference comes to the rescue, revealing secrets every gardener needs to know to easily create a lush, flamboyant landscape. The author details over 500 tropical and subtropical plants that will survive and thrive in cooler climates, either in the garden or in containers that can be moved indoors before first frost.

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.

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.

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.

When is part two of hot plants for cool climates comming out?:
This bood is exactly what I was looking for. What plant to use to create the «tropical» look for cold country as far as Québec. Great tips, even for a long time gardener as I am, I have fund lots of plants that I did'nt know we could over wintered in cold storage. I really hope that they would be a part II of the same book, which will illustrated some nordic landscaping with a exotic look, using the plant showing in this book. Thank's again Denis, Montréal, Québec

Do You Crave a Lush Landscape?:
I've always admired the gorgeous plants and lush landscaping that one could do in the tropics. This book tells you how to do that without moving to Florida. The authors have good credentials for a book of this type. Information about the authors from the publisher's website: "Susan A. Roth is an award-winning writer and photographer. She cultivates her own eclectic garden in Stony Brook, New York. Dennis Schrader is one of the foremost experts on tropical plants in the Northeast. He co-owns and -operates Landcraft Environments, a wholesale greenhouse in Mattituck, New York."