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.

Part 1 Physiology and breeding1.Environmental physiology of ornamental plants: John Erwin, University of Maryland, USA;2.Exploiting the genetic diversity of ornamentals: Yoo Gyeong Park, Gyeongsang National University, Republic of Korea; Young Hoon Park, Pusan National University, Republic of Korea; Abinaya Manivannan, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Republic of Korea; Prabhakaran Soundararajan, National Institute of Agricultural Science, Republic of Korea; and Byoung Ryong Jeong, Gyeongsang National University, Republic of Korea;3.Advances in conventional breeding techniques for ornamentals: Traud Winkelmann and Philipp Braun, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany; and Emmy Dhooghe and Johan van Huylenbroeck, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Belgium;4.Advances in tissue culture techniques for ornamental plant propagation: G. R. Rout, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, India; and S. Mohan Jain, University of Helsinki, Finland;5.Advances in molecular breeding of ornamentals: Neil O. Anderson, University of Minnesota, USA;6.The use of gene-editing techniques in breeding improved ornamentals: Bruno Trevenzoli Favero, Josefine Nymark Hegelund and Henrik Lütken, University of Copenhagen, Denmark;7.Advances in abiotic stress-resistant varieties of ornamentals: Qiansheng Li and Mengmeng Gu, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, USA;8.Improving nutrient management in the cultivation of ornamental plants in greenhouse, container and field production: John Majsztrik, Clemson University, USA and James S. Owen Jr., USDA-ARS, USA;Part 2 Cultivation techniques9.Advances in irrigation practices and technology in ornamental cultivation: John D. Lea-Cox, University of Maryland, USA;10.Advances in protected cultivation of ornamentals: James E. Faust, Clemson University, USA;11.Diseases affecting ornamental geophytes and their control: Gary A. Chastagner and Andrea R. Garfinkel, Washington State University, USA;