As colorful and luscious as the flowers it describes, this beautifully illustrated book offers everyone interested in tropical gardens a guide to the multitude of plants, trees, and exotic species that thrive in subtropical seaside conditions. Based on the hands-on experience of members of the Garden Club of Palm Beach, it includes chapters on palms, aroids, shrubs, dooryard fruit, flowering trees, herbs, orchids, roses, mangroves, and an essay on the history of the island of Palm Beach and its gardens and gardeners. Separate chapters deal with environmental issues and present new techniques to reduce water requirements. Special inserts on botany and cultivation, with simple sketches and explanations of practical terms, will enable uninitiated readers to become "horticulturally literate" at a glance. The dramatic photographs were taken in many of the club members’ own gardens as well as in protected areas that the club helps to preserve. From flowering ground cover and cascading climbing vines to the handsome native palms that arch gracefully overhead, the pictures convey the colors, shapes, patterns, and textures of an astonishing array of spectacular blossoms and foliage. Both a complete reference work for beginning and serious gardeners and an exquisite coffee table book for browsing, Gardens by the Sea opens the garden gate to the magnificent world of tropical plants.This book was written by members of the Garden Club of Palm Beach, devoted and experienced amateurs who, working with professional horticulturists, maintain their own gardens and public landscapes in Palm Beach. The club has been an influential and creative force in the community since its founding in 1928, even hiring the landscape architects who created the town plan that governed the layout of parkways and public spaces. Over the years, it has planted the palms along the town’s celebrated Royal Palm Way; established the first demonstration garden in southern Florida; and provided grants to beautification, environmental, and wildlife projects.