Easy Orchids: Simple Secrets for Glorious Gardens--Indoors and Out

I am notorious among my friends and family for killing plants in no time. Yet, I got this book as a gift along with an orchid (they thought if I was given directions for use, that one plant stood a better chance...:)Not only did the plant make it beautifully, and re-bloom, but I now own and enjoy a few more orchid plants.This book is a great basic for your orchid library. Granted, it doesn't cover all the topics you want to know about(plant diseases for example). However, it is very invaluable and even though I now own more orchid books, I find myself getting back to this one quite often for information.It is not intimidating, very easy to follow and an excellent introduction to a great family of plants, too often inaccurately labeled as fragile and needy.I warmly recommend it to anyone getting started with orchids.This book paired with an orchid plant is one of the greatest gifts I ever received...

The book contains about 100 pages: 18 pages on orchid native conditions, horticultural history, and orchid anatomy and growth habits. 22 pages on growing conditions (light, temperature, humidity, fertilizers, etc), growing tips, and pests to avoid. 58 pages covering the details about growing two dozen specific popular orchids. Each orchid in this section is described by its species / cultivar name, specific growing conditions given (light, watering, fertilizing schedule), a full size photograph of each plant, and two or three paragraphs of details about this specific orchid. Book concludes with 4 pages on mail order sources, bibliography, index, and acknowledgement.The book contains clear, crisp, and easy to read information about orchid care. It completely covers all of the essentials that the first time orchid grower needs to learn.Is the book's information helpful? Well, I bought this book with my first orchid. One hundred days later, not only is the orchid still alive, but the flowers are still in bloom! Gee, I guess I can grow orchids, especially with guidance from this book.Is growing orchids addictive? Well, I started with one orchid. One hundred days laters, I now own six plants ... and I'm looking to buy more. All because of this damn book :-) The book is a great introduction to growing orchids for the beginner. It should be your first book, and you should buy it with your first orchid. Simple, but accurate, instructions throughout the text. "Easy Orchids" is a wonderfully helpful book.

This book is perfect for beginners--it contains enough basic information to get you started and doesn't overwhem the reader with a lot of technical terminology. The featured orchids are easily found at your local garden center, home improvement store or from an online orchid vendor. There are large, full-color photos of each orchid.Covered topics include lighting, potting mixes, humidity, containers and fertilizing. Recommendations are given for growing orchids in windowsills, outdoors and in the ground.As the host of Orchids @ BellaOnline.com, I often recommend this book to newcomers to the wonderful world of orchids.

At first glance, this book appears to be gorgeous photos and paragraph after paragraph of tiny text. But when you actually delve into the text, it also has a lot of great info. The book is written in non-technical lingo which is great for a beginner. It really focuses on educating the reader to purchase orchids that will thrive in his/her particular environment. The book is broken down into chapters such as "Orchids to grow on a windowsill", and "Orchids to grow outdoors". There are clear, simple summaries of the cultural needs in the margins. This book will really be enjoyed by novices and intermediate orchidists!

This was one of the first books I read to learn about growing these beautiful plants, and I highly recommend it. It's not to complicated and provides easy to follow "how to do it" guidance on providing the right conditions (water, humidity, temperature, light and potting mix) for each variety. It's printed like a coffee table book, on glossy paper, with high quality color photographs on each page.