Betrock's Essential Guide to Palms

[JimR]

Today, I received an ad in the mail for a new book by David Leaser, published by the Betrock people, called Betrock's Essential Guide to Palms.  Has anyone seen it yet?  Can anyone offer a short review/critique?

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

I received the same letter in the mail.  Betrock usually publishes pretty good stuff, but I don't know this David Leaser guy.

Jerry

[JimR]

Apparently, he is the guy who did Palms:  A Story in Photgraphs, which is a pretty good coffee table book of palm photos (but really nothing beyond the photos).

[bgl]

Well, in all fairness, "Palms, A Story in Photographs" was ALL ABOUT the photos! And I also received the ad in the mail. And intend to order the new book!

[Jim in Los Altos]

I'm definitely ordering his new book. I think his other book on palms was done beautifully. I hope this new one contains some useful information. At $29.99, the price is good too.

[JimR]

I was rather disappointed by the Palms:  A Story in Photographs book, but I seem genetically incapable of resisting buying any book about palms.  So, I will be ordering this one as well.

[Rod]

Did anyone order this book?  What kind of feedback about the book?

Rod

Phoenix

[SubTropicRay]

New book is already on Barnes And Nobles shelves and looks pretty good.

[mpanak]

I got it for Christmas. I like it. I got it and another by the same author. I can't remember which one did not include info about Dypsis Decipiens but one had it listed, the other didn't.

[Rod]

Care to post a review of the book?

Rod

[mpanak]

The other book I was talking about is Betrock's landscape palms It didn't list Dypsis Decipiens). Same publisher, not author.

The Essential Guide to Palms lists at least the most popular palms and their genus. I know it lists every one that I have and/or am interesting in acquiring.

A description I found on-line: It lists Height, Spread, Light requirements, Water needs, Trunk type, minimum Temperatures, Leaf Type, Growth rate, Salinity Tolerance and Key Traits. More than 300 color photographs. (Example: For Livistona, there are 5 pics showing 7 different genus). It discusses 10 different genus, so there are not pics of 3 of them. Tips on everything from propagating palms to preventing pests and diseases.

That is an accurate description. It talks about fertilizing when and how much. Winter care is discussed. Pruning. It also lists the characteristics of 279 different palms and has a pronunciation guide in the back of the book.

That's about the best I can do.

[Jim in Los Altos]

I have the book now and, although I generally like it, I've found some inaccurate information in the short time I've had time to glance over it. For instance, it lists the cold hardiness of the Dypsis decaryi at 18F more than once in the book, it lists the cold hardiness of the Parajubaea cocoides at 22F and the P. torallyi at 24F. Those numbers should at the very least be reversed.  I found some other mistakes too but, overall, this book is well written and put together and has some very useful information on palm care. I'm glad I bought it despite the mistakes I've found so far.

[Joe palma]

Wow, a D. decaryi that handles 18F? And where can I get  a few hundered of those?? No doubt those numbers could easily be reversed Jim.

Haven't seen the book, was thinking of purchasing it.

Have "Cultivated Palms of the World" and it's good, and mainly about the pics and a lite description. This one, at least, is a quick reference, as apposed to ones more into the sceince end of it.

[saipancnmi]

I live in south florida and with the recent cold snap we had whatever was not in the ground got moved into every available spot in my house. No matter what the book tells me, i have about 2 years since my addiction really took hold. I wasn't taking any chances.

[mpanak]

(Joe palma @ Jan. 18 2008,00:56)

QUOTE

Wow, a D. decaryi that handles 18F? And where can I get  a few hundered of those?? No doubt those numbers could easily be reversed Jim.

Haven't seen the book, was thinking of purchasing it.

Have "Cultivated Palms of the World" and it's good, and mainly about the pics and a lite description. This one, at least, is a quick reference, as apposed to ones more into the sceince end of it.

I forgot to mention that one. I questioned at least a few of the cold hardiness temps.

[Walt]

While the book has some short comings (I have a copy of it), the positives far outweigh the negatives, IMO.

One big positive for me is that almost all, if not all the photos used are new, not recycled from past Betrock book printings.

The book is fairly comphrehensive, i.e., Caring/cultural information for your palms; container growing palms; selecting planting locations.

I was somewhat disappointed the book didn't show photos of some popular species of palm in a given genus, such as Dypsis leptocheios for instance. Also, they really skimped on text info on many genra, leaving lots of blank page.

But all in all, I feel for the novice, learing palm enthusiast,  BECTPalms is a worthwhile book. I'm not sorry I purchased it and I wish I had a book like this 10 years ago when I first became interested in palms to grow in the landscape.

[Tad]

I got it for christmas from my dad, I think its pretty good, I have bought palm books before that are not as good as this one , the only complaint I have is some of the cold tolerance numbers are not in my opinion correct, but overall it is a very good book.