PDF The Timber Press Guide to Succulent Plants of the World A Comprehensive Reference to More than 2000 Species Fred Dortort

Product details File Size 358097 KB Print Length 344 pages Publisher Timber Press (May 29, 2019) Publication Date May 29, 2019 Sold by  Digital Services LLC Language English ASIN B0061S3WZK

The Timber Press Guide to Succulent Plants of the World A Comprehensive Reference to More than 2000 Species Fred Dortort Reviews

• This is a handsomely produced volume which, alas, will be of limited practical usefulness for the home gardener, or even for the reasonably informed succulent enthusiast.
  
  The jacket states that it contains "detailed descriptions of more than 2000 plants" and "more than 750 photographs", which is one of the main problems more than half of the species mentioned are not illustrated, and since those mentions are usually unaccompanied by more detailed information they're not very helpful in identifying particular species. And while it's interesting to see many of these plants photographed in their natural habitat, the small size and often cluttered nature of the photographs makes identifying particular species difficult - to say nothing of the fact that many of the species photographed in situ are ones that the average succulent enthusiast are unlikely to encounter at a nursery or botanic garden.
  
  What practical information there is is overwhelmingly directed at the Californian gardener (which comes as no surprise since the author is based in the Bay Area) and will be of very limited usefulness for those living elsewhere.
  
  Overall, the book feels too specific in some areas (taxonomies, geographic descriptions) and not specific enough in others (practical knowledge for home gardeners, particular differences between species), so it's difficult to understand who it's intended for. I consider myself an "advanced amateur" when it comes to succulents, and it wasn't for me.
• This book isn't for those who only want to order some cute little succulents and learn how to make crafts they found on Pinterest. This is for people who want to know about the lifecycle of these plants, where they grow (to help with choosing which varieties are wisest to buy and to replicate natural conditions at home), what they look like in the wild, and some basics of cultivation. I'm not sure why some people are complaining about the photos- They look fine to me. I mean, sure, they aren't huge, perfectly back-lit and diffused in-studio, immaculately edited, with an instagram glamour filter slapped on for hipster cred... but they get the job done. I honestly have nothing negative to sat about this book. Maybe if I become an expert in succulent identification and cultivation, I'll find some sort of minutia to nit-pick, but for the time being, I think this book has a specific audience, and those who are interested in the topic should really appreciate the work that went into making this awesome reference tool.
• This is an excellent reference book, especially given that its topic is very far from being a well-defined category. It's quite readable, nicely printed, and seems likely to be durable (for a normal paperback book, that is).
  
  However, its aims make it less than satisfactory for someone interested in choosing or identifying succulents for the garden, houseplants, etc. As others have commented, most of the photos are of succulents in habitat. Some of these are spectacular; in others, it's almost impossible to distinguish the plant under discussion from other vegetation, rocks, etc. Generally, they don't help either to identify an unknown succulent or to picture how it might appear if you grew it. Furthermore, the selection of plants covered is clearly slanted toward the rare, hard-to-access, or distinctive. This allows for very little coverage (much less photos) of the proliferation of hybrids and visually distinctive cultivars produced by nurseries and sold for the garden or as houseplants.
  
  So, I'm glad I bought the book it is cool to know about where these plants come from & get an idea of what they look like in their native habitat. The author describes some of the more extreme places where commonly-grown as well as unheard-of plants come from vividly, making the book an armchair voyage to some of the planet's most inhospitable terrain. Socotra sounds horrible, but I was fascinated to read about it.
  
  But I wish someone would write an equally authoritative reference work on succulents in the garden. (And leave out the categories that have no place in a landscape & are unlikely to be grown successfully by someone without a greenhouse, etc. - living stones are cool, I personally find "root succulents" repulsive, neither is a landscape plant.) No-one could keep up with the proliferation of wild & crazy hybrid Echeveria, sedums, etc., never mind all the cross-generic hybrids, not to mention the radically different appearance of genetically identical plants under different cultural conditions (with / without rain, etc.).
  
  But I'd really like to have a book that covered the top 10 most common Aeonium species / established varieties in cultivation, with clear pictures of each one - and the equivalent for the main species & standard hybrids of the other prominent succulent genera used in the garden. I don't want to buy multiple volumes per genus - I'm not planning to open a nursery - and there are already *plenty* of books on landscaping with succulents, choosing and arranging succulents for containers, crafting with succulents, etc. Meanwhile, I'm still not sure what species several of the aeoniums I'm growing are, even though I'm a plant person (and a Latinist), and I've been obsessively propagating & slightly less obsessively researching these things for a year.
  
  So, buy this book by all means. It's very cool, and the author is both a top expert and a lively writer. But don't expect it to answer all or even most of your questions about succulents you encounter in gardens, nurseries, etc.
• I got this as a gift for a friend who loves, raises, and creates container gardens with succulents. I had no clue what books he already had, but figured he could always return it to in exchange for a book he'd prefer owning, and was so happy when he told me he'd wanted this book for a long time because it was the best for his field of interest. So that's 5 stars in my book, smiling, and he's had it for about a year now and uses it almost daily for his small, growing business of succulent container gardens!
• I really love this book. It definitely isn’t a book that you can just look up a common succulent and learn how to take care of though. I’m a beginner and I was hoping it would be my succulent bible. It is if you want to know about succulents and where they come from. But not a “how to” guide I would say. It’s a great book though, looks awesome on my coffee table next to my succulent!!