Product Description

Just about everyone's familiar with the Venus flytrap...but did you know that there are pitcher plants that can-and do!-digest an entire rat? Or that there are several hundred species of carnivorous plants on our planet? Full-color photographs of the plants at work and play, plus everything you need to know to successfully grow your own Little Shop of Horrors.Awards1999 American Horticultural Society Book Award Winner ReviewsHow to get kids interested in gardening? The San Francisco Chronicle recommends The Savage Garden, "because there's nothing children like better than catching insects and feeding them to their houseplants."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #251927 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-01
• Released on: 1998-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Amazon.com
Peter D'Amato has been raising carnivorous plants for three decades, and his nursery, California Carnivores, houses the world's largest collection of flesh-eating flora. There's not much D'Amato doesn't know about growing these oddballs of the plant world, and he imparts his expertise gracefully and with humor in The Savage Garden, which is aimed at curious gardeners who want to grow carnivorous plants both indoors and out. From the ever-fascinating Venus flytrap to the aquatic bladderwort and the rather extravagantly sexual-looking pitcher plant, these exotic plants have a reputation for being difficult to grow, but D'Amato proves otherwise. The necessary water and soil chemistry, proper lighting, and propagation tips are discussed thoroughly along with descriptions and growing tips for many species in each of 11 plant families.

If plants can have personalities, these do--or at least appear to in the hundreds of witty photographs and colored illustrations that show them both at their hungriest and at their most innocuous. This is a stunningly comprehensive guide that will inspire and fascinate even the most squeamish gardener. -- Barrie Trinkle

Ingram
In addition to the familiar Venus flytrap, there are several hundred species of carnivorous plants on our planet. Most can be grown in the amateur gardener's backyard or even in a window box. Full-color photos show the plants at work and at rest and tell you everything you need to successfully grow your own--little garden of horrors. Full-color throughout.

About the Author
Peter D'Amato has been growing flesh-eating plants for over thirty years. His nursery, California Carnivores, houses the world's largest collection of carnivorous plants. THE SAVAGE GARDEN is the 1999 winner of the American Horticultural Society Book Award and 1999 Quill & Trowel Award from the Garden Writers Association of America.

Customer Reviews

Inspiring
I have always had an interest in carnivorous plants but I have never found enough condensed information to be confident in the growth cycles and care of each species. the Savage Garden is a very inspiring book detailing in plane text the methods used in the husbandry of a large variety of these incredible plants. this book includes text on many species and subspecies, cultivating index listing soil recipes, containers, watering, light, climate, feeding, fertilizers, conditions for(greenhouse, windowsill, terrarium etc.), transplanting, pests and disease. there are also notes on propagation and a great deal of extra information on each exotic. highly recommended, I would personally like more information on propagation but over all there is a lot of text and indexing back to valid pages on the subject. *4.5 stars

Quality and informative!
This book answers all the questions for cultivating these complex plants. From problem solving, to watering, to soil, and even types of pots, this book will reveal just about everything you have to know. It contains many grade A quality pictures of the plants, soil, pots, other gardens, and some of his own plants. This book is the best on the market and well worth your money.

Visit his nursery too!
If you're ever in wine country (CA), visit his HUGE nursery. It's obvious this guy knows his stuff. The added bonus is that he knows how to write about it in an engaging manner. The pictures are beautiful, too. Read this books if you're at all interested in CPs or plants in general. You'll want to raise some of your own (I did, and now I have three!).