Rating: 
Summary: "The Tropical Look" - a must have book for plant lovers.
Review: "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.
Rating:
Summary: "The Tropical Look" - a must have book for plant lovers.
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: The Tropical Look
Review: An excellent book for the hobbist thru to the commercial landscaper / wholesaler & retailer.The pronunciations are very helpful for the learners & great for correcting the experts who sometimes get it wrong.In our plant shop we use this book a lot for reference work as well as assisting customers as part of the selling / marketing of our plants.It helps the customer to make a more informed buying decision.We are looking forward to future works by Robert Riffle.He as done an excellent job.My only comment to improve the book would be to have plant narratives with the associated picture-maybe the current layout was a cost saving matter with printing. S.A. Lawes. Proprietor:Touch of the Tropics Nursery.
Rating:
Summary: Robert Has Really Done It!
Review: Anyone who is into that "tropical Look" in their home, office, or gardens must get this book. Robert has made it all so easy for you to choose the plants that will make it happen whether you live in the tropics or not. I don't believe that people realize how many plants that are cold hardy that can give you that "look and feel" of the tropics.I consider myself lucky because Robert visits my boards frequently to help those with their questions on tropical gardening. Maybe you will meet him there someday!...Deb
Rating: 
Summary: A Hawaiian Conservation Biologist's Nightmare
Review: As an amateur horticulturist interested in tropical plant propagation, I WOULD give Robert Riffle's book a five star rating for the amount of helpful and user-friendly information and photographs it contains within its pages. As a conservation biologist working on the island of Maui, however, I am compelled to give this book the lowest possible rating (one star) to draw attention to the fact that many of the plants Mr. Riffle advocates are terrible weeds in the native ecosystems of Hawaii and threaten to crowd out and overwhelm many of the already rare and endangered species found in the islands' ever-shrinking native habitats. It's bad enough that he recommends such beautiful, if incredibly aggressive and quick growing species such as Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum), kahili ginger (Hedychium gardnerianum) and banana poka (Passiflora mollissima). These notorious plants have already invaded many of the Hawaiian islands', and therefore the United States', last remaining rainforests, and have contributed to the loss of habitat and biodiversity in a place which makes up less than 0.2 percent of the total land mass of the U.S., but contains 75 percent of the recorded plant and bird extinctions. What is almost unforgivable is his treatment of the genus Miconia, of which he makes the unwitting proclamation "no other tropical genus warrants more attention than this one." For his information, the genus Miconia, and in particular, the velvet tree Miconia calvescens has been the focus of a massive eradication campaign in both the Hawaiian Islands and the Society Islands (Tahiti etc.). This quick growing tree, which was planted in a botanical garden on the island of Tahiti in 1937, has, in the past 50 years, come to dominate over 70 percent of Tahiti's native forests, placing 40-50 of the unique tropical Tahitian plants on the brink of extinction. In the Hawaiian islands, where Miconia was also introduced as an ornamental in 1961, a statewide effort, in which almost $1 million has already been spent, is attempting to prevent a similar situation from occurring. In addition, all 1000 members of the genus Miconia have been listed as noxious weeds by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. That is why I was amazed to read such statements as "it is almost unbelievable that more of these beauties have not been exploited for gardeners in frost-free regions." It is almost unbelievable to me that, despite all of the attention and effort that has gone into protecting the world's rare tropical ecosystems, that nothing is mentioned in the book about the potential for certain plants such as Miconia to become aggressive invaders when grown outside of their native ranges. If Mr. Riffle loves tropical plants as much as is evident from reading the pages of his beautiful but misguided book, he will make an effort in the future to educate both himself and his readers on these types of conservation issues to ensure that all of the rare and unique tropical plants of the world, not just the ones he finds attractive, are still around for future generations to enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: They'll call you professor...
Review: At a couple inches thick, it has two sections of glossy full color photos, the rest is a b&w encyclopedia ready to fill your brain with everything you can question. I have found it to be my most useful tropical reference guide. Now if I can just convince my wife to have us move somewhere warmer...
Rating:
Summary: Horticultural Book of the Year!
Review: Bob Riffle's book is an outstanding reference book on a wide variety of tropical or tropical looking plants that can add so much variety to the subtropical garden. The American Horticultural Society has named it "Horticultural Book of the Year" - an honor it richly deserves. The amount of quality information on each plant accompanied with great color photos of many of them makes this a real bargain and a must for any horticultural library.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference for the gulf coast gardener
Review: Excellent reference book for the gulf coast gardener. While the general concept is to suggest plants that can be used to create a tropical look in any garden, the bulk of the plants are for USDA zones 8,9, and 10. There is little information specifically written for the gulf coast, exclusive of Florida, and this is the region where this book would be most useful. This book is well written from a botanic standpoint and provides some fascinating ideas for coastal Texas and South Texas gardens. Most books for the southern USA ignore the plethra of novel possibilities for this region. My only criticisms would be that greater identification infomation would be useful to the professional nurseymen/landscapers and the color sections are of limited scope. Those color plates that are included are of excellent quality. Source information on plants would be a neat idea.
Rating: 
Summary: A Love for Tropicals, but....
Review: I agree completely with chimera@hawaii.edu in his assessment Mr Riffle's sensitivity to the environment. I also had first hand experience when I heard him recommend here in New Orleans that we grow the cat claw vine, an "underused and very desirable plant." In fact, it is our worst pest and is uneradicable because of the huge tubers and nutlets which form underground and immense number of viable seed. It is known as "Kudzu of New Orleans" because of it's swift, destructive growth. And there lies the crux. If he had bothered to ask a question or two of anyone, anyone at all along the gulf coast, he would have found that out. One wonders what comprises the "research" upon which his recommendations are based! Unfortunately, there are also taxanomic errors, not unusual for somebody who thinks of himself as an expert rather than a student who must continue to question & learn. I gave it 2 stars instead of one only because it is a beautifully produced book, for which Timber is well known. They should be more judicious in selecting their manuscripts though. The pictures are beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best tropical plant books out there!
Review: I have a passion for tropical plants, and this book is my tropical bible. I find the plant descriptions highly informative and the pictures are an added bonus. Bob Riffle's selection of the plants in this book is one of the most inclusive I have ever found. A must have for the tropical gardener!!!
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