Grow Your Own Monsters - Tapa dura

A practical guide to growing all kinds of unusual plants – not the ordinary, good looking ones that most people choose to grow! Voodoo Lilies, Venus Fly Traps, Squirting Cucumbers and Abyssinian Bananas are just some of the exotic and dramatic-looking plants that you can grow quite simply and some of them even indoors by following this book’s instructions on planting and tending. Beyond the particular, the principles of home growing and the fun it gives are entertainingly introduced in this attractively illustrated book. (Julia Eccleshare)

If you're looking for a book to inspire kids to take up gardening, this could be it. Focusing on weird plants, this hardback looks at wacky horticultural wonders such as cucumbers that shoot seeds, cabbages that grow into walking sticks and Venus fly traps that munch on insects. (Amateur Gardening)

Everyone has a sneaking fascination for weird plants that don't behave like ordinary plants. This book explains how to grow some of them so you can see for yourself what they do... A great way to encourage an interest in the natural world. (Green Parent)

The first nine pages are full of clear, sensible advice and worthy make-do-and-mend equipment. Scoular Anderson’s illustrations, photos and diagrams contribute hugely to the clarity and visual appeal of the enterprise. (Books for Keeps)

A painless way of instilling many of the basic principles of good gardening. (Irish Garden)

Children will crow with delight at this book and you can tell it’s going to set them on the right gardening path because what does it say right at the beginning?  Only this.  PLANTS WANT TO GROW!  They do.   So forget the ones that have withered and died because even on the first fascinated reading, children will want to rush out, buy seeds, corms and plants and grow these monsters for themselves.  Best of all, it isn’t difficult, either. Old tights, sheets of tinfoil, cardboard boxes, cartons and polythene are the order of the day. Watering can? Certainly. Simply take a plastic bottle, punch a few holes in the lid and Voila! There you have it. A brilliant watering can.
The instructions are so clear and kindly, it’s as if these gardeners are taking the reader by the hand, gently leading them to the final glory of their very own monster plant. If the plant fails to grow? No worries. They simply encourage the young gardener to start all over again. The illustrations are clear and often very funny with photographs adding to the richness of an already rich subject. A useful list of where to buy what is needed is at the back, together with a glossary that gives the meaning of each gardening term used. One for us all, I think. (Armadillo Magazine)

This is a delightful and unusual gardening book. It provides very clear (and amusing) stage by stage illustrations and it even incorporates a list of suppliers that includes a list of suppliers that includes seedsmen in France and the USA. Recommended for primary school classrooms where teachers are sufficently green fingered. (School Librarian)

The monsters here are large and weird. This book is about growing them at home - on a window-sill, a patio, a balcony, or just a sheltered corner of the garden. All they need is a habitat, foot covering, water and food. This is a book no child should be without. (Ibby Link)

I love the air of excitement and optimism which bursts from every page in this delightful book. (Carousel)

Everyone has a sneaking fascination for weird plants that don't behave like ordinary plants. This fascinating book shows how to grow some of them and see for yourself what they do. From cucumbers that shoot seeds and cabbages that grow into walking sticks, to venus fly traps that eat insects and giant echiums that look like alien spaceships, these are plants that will amaze - and they are so easy to grow. Detailed instructions on how to sow and look after these monsters of the plant world accompany step-by-step illustrations and fabulous photos of the mature plants to inspire anyone who can't resist getting to know them better. And some of the plants can be grown on patios or window sills too.

Plants included: squirting cucumber, voodoo lily, Abyssinian banana, cardoon, walking stick cabbage, venus fly trap, pitcher plant, giant echium and lychee