Growing Bromeliads

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to growing Bromeliads
Review: The book contains 106 pages about growing Bromeliads. There are 6 pages on Bromeliad history, ecology, and horticulture. 7 pages about the general Bromeliad family. 7 pages about common growing conditions. 41 pages about growing specific genera such as: Aechmea, Ananas, Billbergia, Cryptanthus, Dyckia, Hechtia, Guzmania, Neoregelia, Nidularium, Tillandsia, Vriesea, and brief comments about lesser known genera. 7 pages on propagation. 14 pages on biology, variation (variegation), pest and diseases. 4 pages of Appendix. 3 pages of Glossary. 3 pages of Index by species. It also includes 16 full color pages of photographs. Several other B&W photographs are scattered about the book.

The book is about growing Bromeliads, or at least growing Bromeliads in Australia. It occasionally has some local reference to an Australian city or region, but mostly the information is generic. It does suffer from regular references to the metric system and Celsius temperatures. For this reader, being a Yank and living on the frozen tundra up here in Wisconsin, metric & celsius measures don't make much sense.

Facts in the book are modestly interesting and modestly informative. It tends to chase around the facts. For example, "overwatering will rot the plants". Dah - yah think? So, what exactly is the proper amount of water? The book is not always crisp about specifics.

It's a good book, but not a great book. There is much information, but the book's structure makes it hard to find. Plant photographs are not adjacent to their descriptions - you have to page around to find the photo. The text is small and therefore reading gets to be a chore.

I like sections of the book, but other sections could be much improved. The book is inexpensive, and by that measure you get good value. For the money, it's a good introduction to growing Bromeliads.