Ornamental plants are plants grown for decorative purposes. They include cut flowers, bulbs, potted plants, shrubs and trees for gardening and landscape design. Like other crops, ornamentals face challenges such as biotic and abiotic stresses as well as the need to develop more sustainable, ‘climate-smart’ methods of cultivation. This collection reviews the rich range of research addressing these challenges.

Part 1 discusses advances in understanding plant physiology, genetic diversity and breeding techniques. Chapters cover recent research on how plants respond to abiotic stress, ways of exploiting genetic diversity to improve target traits, advances in both conventional and marker-assisted breeding techniques, as well as their use to produce abiotic stress-resistant varieties. Part 2 surveys advances in cultivation techniques in such areas as nutrition, irrigation, protected cultivation and integrated disease management.