Bizarre Botanicals

Bizarre Botanicals: How to Grow String-of-Hearts, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Panda Ginger, and Other Weird and Wonderful Plants

by Larry Mellichamp and Paula Gross

284 pages

Timber Press, October 2010

List price: $24.95

I don't know about you, but I'm drawn to the unusual, whether it's interior design, fashion, or plants.  It doesn't mean that the unusual is right for me all the time, but every now and then it's fun to experiment.

The plant world is chock full of weirdos. Some stink, some are ugly, some are eerily animal-like in their behavior, but every one of the plants in Bizarre Botanicals is downright fascinating. Seventy-five of the out-of-the-ordinaries that are available to us are highlighted, and most are fairly easy to acquire, even if you have to purchase them online.

I love trivia when it comes to plants and there's plenty to satisfy me here. Each plant profile also gives basic growing information, including a difficulty rating, and its characteristics are discussed in a conversational style, making this a fun book to read. The photography supports the text well, although I have a hard time looking at page 255 for long; it's just a little creepy to me. But creepy equals bizarre, too.

I'm only giving it four stars, though I considered five. The only reason I didn't give it the highest rating is because even though the authors wanted to feature plants that nearly every gardener could get their hands on, I would have loved to have read about some of those other strange ones they alluded to. Still, if a gardener friend who has an extensive collection of horticulture books doesn't have this one, there's your gift problem solved. I can't imagine they wouldn't enjoy Bizarre Botanicals.

Larry Mellichamp is a professor of botany and horticulture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he has taught for over 30 years. He is also director of the University’s botanical gardens. He has written many technical and popular articles on plants and gardening, appears regularly in the local media, and has co-authored three other books.

Paula Gross is the assistant director of the University of North Carolina Charlotte Botanical Gardens. She has a masters in horticulture from the University of Georgia, and teaches courses on horticulture and plant identification. In addition, she writes a periodic column on horticultural issues and provides information on gardening questions.

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The publication being reviewed in this blog post was the sole compensation for reviewing the product. All opinions expressed here are mine. If I like it, I'll say so. If I don't, I'll say that, too.