Growing Hardy Orchids

While I am just a neophyte as far as Orchids are concerned I found "Growing Hardy Orchids" to be a well thought out and well planned book. I live in Northern Maine and have always been interested in my local Orchids. Thank You Mr. Tullock for your insight. Bob

This book is fairly inspiring and very informative but there are some respects in which it does not meet/suit my learning style. I wish that the 'catalog of hardy and half-hardy orchids', fully half of the the text of the book before the very interesting epilogue, were arranged taxonomically rather than alphabetically by genus. I would find it more useful if related genera (that may not be alphabetically nearby) were listed together. That would help me learn to classify the taxa into functional groups rather than by the spelling of their genus (recognizing microhabitat differences such as pH that some widespread genera like Cypripedium and Platanthera spread across). The relationships of the genera are listed elsewhere but a lot of back and forth flipping could have been avoided wiith a different arrangement of the list of species. I would love to see range maps. Obviously there are too many species (never mind hybrids) to give a range map for each one, but what about a range map for each genus or set of genera, w/ gradations indicating the number of species (or genera, as appropriate) in each part of the map? I'm picturing a cloud plot which is densest where the most species occur, and diffuse where few occur (and obviously blank where none occur). Finally, I wish the USDA hardiness zone map had zoomed in on the lower 48 so that I could actually read it. Maybe I am just unfortunate enough to be in an area that may or may not be in a striking outlier zone (if the map were bigger I could tell, and I am off to google to find a better map when I'm done writing this). Not to be too US-centric, if the map showed everything below a straight line between the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the Gaspe peninsula you would probably have sufficient info for the vast majority of your Canadian readers too. Actually the map probably wouldn't need to show much below the lower extent of the Appalachians in the east and I'm not sure what in the west to cover the areas of interest to people likely to attempt cultivating these specific orchids. Anyway, I wish the information in the book were more targeted so I didn't feel like I have to read it cover to cover (potentially multiple times) before feeling like I had a sufficient grasp of the material. As is, digesting it in time for this spring's planting doesn't seem likely. But I'll keep looking for supplementary web pages. And maybe this is the author's/publisher's subtle way of suggesting that I shouldn't dash off to the store, buy a bunch of soil amendments and tubers and fill up the yard w/o taking more time to mull it over and plan.

Mr John Tullock, the author of this tome, was interviewed today On the Jane Nugent Gardening Show on WPTT-AM 1360 Pittsburgh, PA, 12 November 2005. He gave an excellent overview of the subject of orchiculture which he delightfully integrated with his studies of pisciculture, ichthyology and ecology. The book is an excellent and accessible resource, well illustrated, for the individual who enjoys orchids for their beauty and the amateur or professional grower who enjoys the cultivation of orchids of diverse habitats. Another great offering from Timber Press.