Product Description

A celebration of the exotic-style garden, where vibrant colour, dramatic architectural shapes and lush tropical leaves fill every available space. Experienced sub-tropical-plant grower Will Giles proves how easy it is to grow lush and hot-coloured plants in temperate as well as hot climate gardens and that many "tender" plants can easily survive cold winters. In addition to chapters on the different types of exotic plants - from cool and lush to brightly coloured to drier Mediterranean-style gardens - there is also a practical guide to planting and maintaining exotics, as well as a directory of key plants, organized by climate.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99075 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Will Giles reckons that British gardeners are ready to abandon the restrained good taste, subtle border plantings and generally muted palette of the traditional garden in favour of tropical boldness, hot colours and sculptural forms. He may well be right. The various plantings he discusses and illustrates in The New Exotic Garden are extravagant indeed. Huge banana trees, bamboos of all sizes and colours, ferns, gingers, astonishing foliage plants, shrubs like the fabulous Brugmansia, are mingled with familiar exotics like begonias, hostas, clematis and dahlias, made unfamiliar again by their context. This is a very exciting approach to garden-building; and if your tastes lie in the direction of this kind of febrile self-expression, The New Exotic Garden is highly recommended. It includes a directory of exotic plants and practical advice on their cultivation. No-one could pretend, however, that these are low-maintenance plants. Many have to be protected from frost: there are illustrations of the fairly awe-inspiring precautions required to ensure the survival of a mature banana plant (build a kind of wooden cage out of pallets around it and stuff it with straw), and the more manageable plants may need to be transferred to a greenhouse for the winter. All of this means that a full-blown exotic garden is not to be undertaken lightly. But the rewards, as Will Giles triumphantly demonstrates in the many beautiful shots of his own Norwich garden among the illustrations, can be immense. --Robin Davidson

Review
Tropical plantings are enjoying a renaissance with their instant, easy impact on gardens small and large. Originating in Victorian times when large-scale 'bedding' was in vogue, temporary plantings lost their appeal during the war years and it is only recently, thanks to the daring of gardeners such as Christopher Lloyd, that they have found their place in the popularity stakes again and become more readily available. This is a long overdue book from Will Giles whose garden has often been shown on television and written about in the horticultural press. A small town garden in the heart of Norwich, he has spent the last twenty years developing it, learning from it and finding that many so-called tropical plants are actually hardier than at first thought. His immense knowledge, shared so freely in this attractively produced book, is written in an entertainingly informative manner making this a pleasure to dip into time after time. Covering lush, forest-like plantings, Mediterranean style plantings and desert-scapes, he demonstrates the ease with which houseplants find themselves at home in the open air, albeit for a temporary break. Marantas, amaranthus and alocasias happily mix with bananas, palms, agaves and yuccas. The imposing ginger lilies with their autumnal sweetly-scented flowers and colourful cannas add colour at a higher level whilst hardy perennials such as euphorbias and hemerocallis add exoticism in their own quiet way. Succulents and cacti look happily at home too, sitting in pots on steps or planted in a sunny spot to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. This is a fascinating insight into what can now be grown in this country thanks to global-warming. Including details on propagation, planting and winter-care, this is an indispensable guide to these new garden plants whose popularity will hopefully last for a long time to come. - Lucy Watson

About the Author
A passionate gardener, Will Giles has been inspired by his many trips abroad to create a glorious exotic-style garden in East Anglia. Will's own garden has been featured on Channel 4's series Real Gardens, and he was asked to create a garden for BBC TV's Small Town Gardens; he also writes for several gardening magazines, and can be heard weekly giving advice on a whole range of gardening matters on BBC Radio Norfolk.

Customer Reviews

Excellent book if you are interested in the exotic /unusual
Large colourful pictures and informative text entice you into wanting to create your own corner of Eden. Mediterranean or jungle it's all here. There are plenty of ideas and inspirations within everbody's reach and pocket. Useful tips on propagating and protecting plants as well as a small directory of exotic plants.

Excellent introduction
Great book for getting started in tropical gardening, with gorgeous photos.
However, what we need is a book for UK gardeners listing tropical looking plants that do not need protection, perhaps for the lazy gardener and this book does not go into this in any great depth.
But it is one of the best available for the UK gardener and well worth getting.

A great starting place to keep coming back to
Being new to the world of exotic gardeing this book was at first a great inspiration- showing just what can be achieved in the English Climate.

Once we got going ourselves I have found I keep coming back to this book - for the useful information it has - espcially the section in the back on Cultivating exotic plants. Lovely clear coloured drawings make it easy to follow.

Theres also a great directory of exotic plants - that is useful for quick reference.

I've had this book for 6 months now - and still manage to sit down and find something interesting in it every week.