Amazon.com
Burpee has created a truly encyclopedic, but non-intimidating, guide to organic vegetable gardening that can be used and appreciated by anyone, whether or not they've ever stuck a seed in the ground. All the essential information is here--how to condition the soil, how and where to plant, sprouting schedules, what kind of yield to expect from each plant variety, and harvesting tips--in beautiful, bountiful, illustrated detail; the book's largest section, "Plant Portraits," contains explanations of the many cultivars of each vegetable and herb. If you're a novice vegetable gardener or new to organic gardening and can only afford one gardening guide, this may be your best value.
Book Description
A Backyard-Gardener's Guide to Growing a Bountiful, Great-Tasting Harvest
The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener features:
- A full-color encyclopedia of over 100 vegetables and herbs with detailed, expert advice on growing them successfully from planting to harvest
- Planting and growing techniques that keep maintenance to a minimum
- Entries on how to grow unusual edibles, such as refreshing mesclun for salads, colorful edible flowers, spicy mustards, and more
- Descriptions and photos of a host of succulent vegetables, both hybrids and heirlooms, from common to exotic
- Complete information on improving even the poorest garden soil using safe, organic techniques, plus practical advice on making compost
- Recommendations on garden tools you need-and those you don't
- Information on controlling pests and diseases organically, without resorting to poisonous sprays
- Spectacular full-color photographs of vegetables and herbs, food gardens, and edible landscapes, plus 30 black-and-white line drawings
Customer Reviews:
Great overview book.......2007-06-09
This book is great if you're a beginner gardener, and want just one book to sit down and read that covers all aspects of gardening. You'll want to go on an buy other books that go into more detail on specific topics, but this is a great place to start, and one to keep on the shelf.
It is presented as a gardening book should be - a large hardcover with lots of glossy colour photographs.
Chapters are:
1) Growing you own
2) Getting Started
3) Garden Tools & Equipment
4) Improving the soil
5) Laying out the Garden
6) Planting the Garden
7) Caring for the Garden
8) Coping with Garden Problems
Should be called the Coffee Table Encyclopedia of Gardening.......2007-03-10
I am so impressed with this big, beautiful book! The photos are inspiring, and the technical aspects are thoroughly covered. I love the historic background of each vegetable and herb.
I think there is literally everything I ever needed to know about vegetable gardening from seed germination, through care and feeding, to harvest. Detailed charts outline fertilizer, pests, water, soil conditions, and planting and harvest times.
I keep it on my coffee table and flip through it daily just to enjoy the photos and learn some new fact.
You will not be disappointed with this book!
Gardners Dictionary.......2006-10-31
I am a new gardener and this book has helped so much! I look everything up in it. RIght down to problems with plant to how much water each plant gets. It has a guide to all plants and great pictures. Also has tips for gardening.
Well Organized, Comprehensive, Excellent Layout.......2002-08-14
Burpee's "The Complete Vegetable and Herb Gardener: A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically" is fantastic. In addition to what Burpee lists on the back cover of what is inside the book, there are also many easy-reading tables that contain excellent information such as the vitamin(s) that each vegetable contains, different cultivars, plant PH needs, watering needs per week, crop yields, etc. Many interesting tidbits.
The layout is so wonderful, one does not feel overwhelmed with all of the information that is in the book!
Vegatable Gardening Made Really Easy.......2001-11-02
Very similar in content and structure to Ortho's Complete Guide to Vegtables. The difference comes in the experience the writer has growing and maitaining the various plants. I find using both books gives different perspectives for growing and caretaking of plants but conatins the same basic information. For instance the Ortho book has better Garden Setup and maintenance data, and raw data on the various gardening aspects like fertilizer and pest eradiction. The Burpee book focuses on plant and cultivar details a little better. The book is filled with plenty high quality pictures of plants and their fruits using multiple pictures of various cultivars within plant families.
The book is geared for both beginners in gardening and the handy do it yourselfer types. Chapters progress you through the steps from site selection and plant selection to harvesting, crop rotating and soil conditioning over winter and indoor greenhouse seed starting. The book also contains references to various cultivars within vegtable species, so a beginner gardener could not only successfully select and grow well know vegtables, but could also grow and use the odd often hard to find fresh herbs.
I consistently flip between both this book and Ortho's book. I find using them in this manner makes the information extracted complimentary and thorough.
Book Description
Everything you need to know about growing your favorite herbs using safe, natural, all-organic methods!Practical tips and advice on all aspects of successful herb growing.A wealth of great ideas and helpful how-to on using herbs in cooking, crafts, cosmetics, health care, insect repellents, and more.Illustrated herb directory featuring all the most popular herbs-- from aloe to yarrow-- each with complete information on growing, care, harvesting, and uses.
Customer Reviews:
Concise, but useful.......2007-06-09
This is a relatively small book at about 150 pages, but it manages to pack in a lot of information very concisely. It's beautifully illustrated with color photographs and drawings.
The first 2/3 of the book includes general herb gardening background and use of herbs tips: how to choose plants, pick the location, general design principles, planting instructions (including some nice tips on extending the growing season), propagation, harvesting, drying, pests and diseases, etc.
It also includes suggestions for common culinary uses, such as salads, herbal vinegars, flavored oils, teas, jellies, honeys, and breads. These are not an extensive set of recipes, but more like master recipes with some suggestions for how you can mix them up with variations.
The book also includes suggestions and recipes for health and beauty products (again, not an extensive collection). This section includes potpourri, sachets, bouquets, dried arrangements and insect repellents.
The last 1/3 of the book has individual pages on about 50 different herbs. These individual pages tell you a description, how to grow, harvesting instructions, suggested uses, tips, cultivars, and also includes a quick key on the level of care required (using a 4 glove rating system), if it attracts beneficial insects, whether or not it is ornamental, whether or not it can be grown in a container, how much yield you can expect to get and how easy it is to grow.
The back of the book contains a few pages of resources for laboratories, vendors, herb associations and other books or literary resources.
There are lots of charts and sidebars and overall I found this book to be very useful and easy to access. It doesn't have the level of information needed to make this anything other than a quick reference book though.
in love with herbs.......2007-01-25
I adore this book! Wow! It has all the things I wanted!
- it's organic
- it very thorougly covers many herbs in different formats, so you know everything from what bugs they attract or repel, how tall they grow, and what zone they can be grown in
- common uses for them: I discovered many herbs I thought were inedible plants that are indeed herbs
- easy to use tables
I wasn't too hip on all the cosmetic and craft uses - I'd rather eat them, but they're short and may come in handy. I know the rest of the book sure will!
I LOVE THIS BOOK.......2006-08-23
This is a great book for a beginning herb gardener. The first half of the book is a general overview of gardening techniques, designs, and uses for herbs. The second half gives specific information on growing and using many herbs. This has been extraordinarily helpful to me as background and reference for me.
However, it is pretty basic and only covers the most commonly used herbs, so I'm not sure that advanced herb gardeners would get much out of this.
"Must Have" for aspiring herb growers.......2006-07-24
Great resource book. Covers all of the basics in clear, simple instructions.
A complete herbal reference book!.......2006-06-26
I really like this book. It is very easy to follow and has a little bit of everything you need to know packed into the book. I bought it for the outside herb garden design, but I changed my mind. I am trying a kitchen garden, growing the herbs inside in containers. If you are new to herb gardening, this is the perfect book. And in my opinion, it is the only book you will need. I want to use the fragrant herbs for sachet crafts and dry some herbs for cooking. These will be terrific gifts for my DIL because she buys and uses a lot of herbs for cooking and will never have the time to grown them. You will never put this book away. There are so many possibilities of what to do with herbs.
Book Description
Seed to Seed is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables. This book contains detailed information about each vegetable, including its botanical classification, flower structure and means of pollination, required population size, isolation distance, techniques for caging or hand-pollination, and also the proper methods for harvesting, drying, cleaning, and storing the seeds. Seed to Seed is widely acknowledged as the best guide available for home gardeners to learn effective ways to produce and store seeds on a small scale. The author has grown seed crops of every vegetable featured in the book, and has thoroughly researched and tested all of the techniques she recommends for the home garden. This newly updated and greatly expanded Second Edition includes additional information about how to start each vegetable from seed, which has turned the book into a complete growing guide. Local knowledge about seed starting techniques for each vegetable has been shared by expert gardeners from seven regions of the United States-Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast/Gulf Coast, Midwest, Southwest, Central West Coast, and Northwest.
Customer Reviews:
Complex Reference Tool.......2007-09-04
I found this book to be very interesting, I found myself wishing that I could talk to the auther about her experiences in growing. I think an in depth description of each growing stage would be helpful but would make the book way too long....But isn't that what a reference tool should be?
A good guide for the job.......2007-08-16
I think Ashworth has made a splendid job with this book, especially as there are none like it on the market. There`s a lot of good solid info, and everything you need to save seeds from a vegetable variety is easily found. All in all pretty much as good of a reference book as you can wish for.
A minor thing that irritates me, is that when after every vegetable some regional experts give their advice on growing the vegetable at hand, I get the feeling that even if they have not even tried some plants, they give the advice "They can`t be grown in this climate". I myself am from Finland, and I still grow some of the vegetables they mention every season here!
Great for seed saving and unusual vegetable reference.......2007-08-10
It's wonderfully complete for seed saving. I've saved my own carrot seeds now! And the squash from last years saved seeds looks just like it should. This book covers all the techniques, issues and risks although I think it's very much geared towards multi-generation saving of entirely pure seed - you don't need to be quite so careful on the isolation if you just want to grow one generation of kale for your own use (mine came out okay in spite of only minor control of nearby brassicas), and saving seed with only two chard plants, not enough genetic diversity to preserve a variety for long, can by themselves produce enough seed so you'll eat chard every day for 5 years.
It's also a great reference for unusual vegetables, it's amazingly complete; you can find out about 4-sided bean or other tropical type vegetables. And it sorts out the different squash and pepper species very well.
The gardening information in each section hasn't impressed me much as useful or accurate; but we are in-between the zones they provide.
Worth having for the details........2007-05-12
If I remember correctly this was a bit pricey for the amount of information it contains, but then again it goes to a good cause I believe...I hope seed savers. Anyway, it gives some real particulars like varieties and growing region that I found very helpful. Even a tip about saving tomato seeds I never knew after 38 years of gardening. It explained my low germination rate! If you are going to save seed from year to year it is a must have.
Save those non-hybrid seeds.......2007-01-08
This is an advanced gardening book for the gardener who want to save seeds from non-hybrid plants. The book covers well over a hundred types of plants. However, some plants are not included for some reason. Overall, it is an excellent resource for gardeners.
Book Description
Why do gardeners start plants from seed instead of just buying a flat of seedlings from their local nursery? Necessity. Seedlings of unusual or exotic plants simply aren't available at garden stores, but they are available in seed. Then there's the cost factor. A few packets of seeds are much cheaper than dozens upon dozens of seedlings. And finally there's the plants' health to consider. Plants grown from seed get a healthy start that can almost guarantee you a magnificent display in your garden. The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom will teach you everything you need to know to germinate and grow more than 500 types of flowering plants. For every plant listed you'll find precise information on whether it will do well in your part of the country; how to sow seeds indoors and outdoors; when to transplant indoor seedlings out in the garden; what light, soil, and spacing requirements are necessary; general plant care; when you can expect the plants to flower; how to encourage more blooms; and how to propagate your plants by cutting, division, layering, or detaching runners.
The book also features more than 500 full-color flower photographs. A quick-reference chart outlines bloom time, color, height, and site requirements for more than 1,000 species, making this book an indispensable reference for planning and planting fabulous gardens.
Book Description
Imagine savoring the taste of your own homegrown tomato, fresh from the vine, in February! How about harvesting fresh organic salad greens year-round, or stepping into a blossom-laden tropical paradise on the coldest of winter days? Today, greenhouses and sunrooms are real living spaces where gardeners spend as much time with a book and a cup of coffee as they do with a watering can and a pair of pruning shoes. In this fully revised edition of a best-selling classic, veteran gardener Shane Smith embraces this new lifestyle approach to greenhouse gardening.
Customer Reviews:
The best book for experienced gardeners new to greenhouses.......2007-09-16
Actually the title says it all. I wish I had time to read lots of books
about greenhouse gardening but I don't. An experienced gardener, I'm new to greenhouse gardening and struck gold when I bought this book. It isn't dumbed down and is fast and fun to read.
The book doesn't begin at square one but does explain the important differences between gardening in an outside
garden and a greenhouse. One example; the reason fans are needed during the day (while photo synthesis is taking place) is to prevent a CO2 deficient envelope from surrounding the leaves. Also, explaination of
how to pollinate in an environment with no birds or insects is helpful.
Varieties of vegetables and flowers are discussed and why certain ones are
better suited. Trouble shooting and "when things go wrong" chapters are
good. Also, I learned more than I thought was possible about light and the different qualities of light plants need. Again, advice on when a
less expensive alternative will work was very welcome.
I'm so happy I bought this book BEFORE our greenhouse is complete because
the chapters on design and environment have given me a master plan for the space we have. Also, throughout the book are money saving ideas and
words of warning from experience. This author knows his subject inside out, is very good at communicating and doesn't use 100 words when 50 will do. Buy the book-you won't be disappointed!
Great Buy.......2007-09-10
I purchased this book on previous recommendations listed and am very pleased that I did. Great book for those just starting to think about using a greenhouse or for someone who needs a few extra tips. Well written with good descriptions.
M. Guenard.......2007-08-26
This book is an absolute MUST for any Northern gardener!
Before I start raving about the different indispensible topics covered in this book, I will also mention that in the spring of 2006 I also bought "Gardening in Your Greenhouse, by Mark Freeman".
I`ve waited a year - virtually two growing seasons - and I'm ready to give my review(s). This is my first and only review so far on this site.
A year ago this spring, I had just ordered my 6 ml. polyethylene steel frame greenhouse & I read Freeman's book first. I was so discouraged I almost cancelled the order. When you live in Northeastern Vermont, the climate is jokingly referred to as "10 months of winter & 2 months bad skiing" (zone 4/sometimes 3 depending on the year). The whole point of having a greenhouse is to extend the seasons but Freeman's view on this subject seems to be; "Don't bother! When it gets cold it gets cold and unless you want to spend a fortune, you'll just have to live with it."(Not a direct quote but that's the gist you get from his book).
"The Greenhouse Gardener's Companion" on the other hand gives you all the tools you need to beat back the elements and enjoy the fruits of your labor when everything outside that flimsy sheet of plastic has long since died.
Shane Smith goes into extensive detail on how to build "Thermal Mass" in your greenhouse - the natural, non-electric heat sinks that will keep your greenhouse warm; barrels of water, jugs of water, brick, stone, gravel, etc. He also tells you exactly how to calculate just how much water (or other materials) you'll need to keep your greenhouse above acceptable growing temperatures using the square footage and the thickness of the glazing and of course your growing zone. He also gives spectacular examples of his research; sub-zero conditions and the actual temperatures inside greenhouses using appropriate thermal mass; e.g. a solar greenhouse in Wyoming on a night with -30F temps. with a 15mph wind & the temp inside the greenhouse at 32F heated only by thermal mass.
In the summer there's the opposite problem - how to keep the greenhouse cool. Smith describes the science of airflow & how to calculate the size and position of your lower and upper air vents to naturally siphon the heat through the space and create a natural cooling system (without fans!).
Unfortunately, I had set up my greenhouse before I read Smith's book, or I would have done a lot of things differently (at that point I had only read Freeman's book and was working on dogged determination and not much else). If I had read the "Greenhouse Gardener's Companion" I would have also put insulation around my 3-foot deep gravel base for instance. I had installed 6 vents near the bottom, which didn't seem to do anything to disperse the heat - but once I put in new vents according to Smith's calculations, the greenhouse virtually cooled itself. I do run one household fan near the upper vent but today I forgot; the outside temperature was 85F & the greenhouse temperature was only 92F. Need I say more!
Smith's book also covers all the essentials of greenhouse gardening including the unique problems of pollinating in a closed space and recommends self-pollinating varieties & other tricks to get things growing robustly. One of the other reviewers has suggested that no one would actually read this cover to cover, well I did, and it was a worthwhile read.
But the proof is in the pudding isn't it? In my zone, planting frost tender plants isn't recommended until the first or second week of June, with frost still possible. Well, I had almost all my seedlings in flats in my greenhouse by late April (this being my first spring I held back a little - I did keep my frost tender seedlings inside). On the other end of the scale, last fall we had tomatoes from the greenhouse in late October, and salad greens in November. This year I've added more thermal mass so who knows?
My conclusion: if you're a gardener who wants to keep growing when the nay sayers say you can't - buy The Greenhouse Gardener's Companion.
A "Must Have" Book.......2007-05-07
We just built a Growing Dome and needed a few books on greenhouse growing. This is the first one we grab for answers. Shane Smith is so complete, and he can relate to the extremes in our Western weather, affecting the greenhouse. Love this book. A great purchase.
Start here for Help, greenhouse?.......2007-03-25
5 Stars, to me that means read on my friend. Depending on your level of skill, I have none, but the desire was there. Ok, I got the Greenhouse when I moved in 14x14 freestanding, baseboard heat and plumbed, the owner was dead and nothing was hooked up or working. What do I do with it. what was it worth, should I tear it down or restore it. No one wants someone elses, headache or was it soon to be my white elephant. I needed help! I fixed the automatic ventilation, but how do I decide whats next and what's not. This book came recommended for getting my head on straight and not looking to far and checking first things first. Hey was the right kind of light getting through the 30 yr old fiberglass? What if the thing is all wrong... This book eased my mind into the basics and still has plenty to offer. Good reading if your planning or have adopted as I did. I'd loan you mine, but of course I am keeping it. I think you could save time and money.
Book Description
“A superb primer on orchid culture. It uses a fully illustrated step-by-step approach and doesn’t skimp on relating complete details. There’s a chapter showing easy-to-grow orchids in all their glory, and there’s also a chapter warning about ‘difficult’ orchids to avoid. This tome takes you on a visit [to] 16 terrific varieties you can easily handle....It’s a fun and rewarding winter exercise.”—Denver Post.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book On Orchids.......2007-09-09
This book is easy to understand with lots of detail. Good to have as reference.
Removed all the guess work in a book you can read in one evening.......2007-06-04
I've read a lot of confusing books on orchid growing as well as some very good ones like Understanding Orchids. this book is conveniently short and clear with excellent charts, great pictures easy descriptions. I found of everything I have read that this one gave me the confidence and actually repot, prune and relocate my outdoor Florida orchids. I finally feel confident that I know what I am doing. I gave it five stars because it was the star in the crown of what I read but I feel that you still need to read Understanding Orchids as well to have it all.
Really good, but not enough pages!.......2004-04-01
I was the ultimate orchid wimp, a complete novice, when a friend sent me an encyclia last summer, and I panicked. I bought the Ortho orchid book, and tried to find a decent place for my plant, then went so far as to buy two more orchids - NOT knowing they were ones that needed the exact opposite treatment from the first. And THEN the same friend moved, and had some careless friends crate up 14 of her orchids and ship them off to ME! They arrived in terrible condition, having fallen out of their pots, leaves crushed, roots torn, a MESS. I had no space, no good light for them, not enough humidity, NOTHING.
Well, enter Orchid Growing for Wimps. It gave me not only information but confidence. In particular, I commend it for having pictures of the complete plants, not just the flowers. It really shows you how to perform many necessary tasks, gives good tips on care of many common types of orchids. It convinced me at last that I'd better splurge and buy a large, lighted case for my babies, and they are now quite happy and doing well.
My only complaint, and it is unrealistic, is that this book doesn't cover all the thousands of varieties and their sometimes highly speccialized culture. The remedy for that is - MORE BOOKS, never a bad thing!
But if you can only buy one book, this one may be the most helpful one you can find.
review by Janet Knori, author of Awakening In God
... This wimp loved it!.......2002-11-27
I received an orchid plant a few years back and was afraid of loving it to death (ie: overwatering, overfertilizing, etc.) Happily, it seems to do quite fine, but I wanted to know when to repot it, how to get it to bloom with the most possible blossoms and how to care for it-aside from just keeping it alive. This book was VERY helpful, and I am the ultimate in Orchid wimps. The pictures helped me to match up what kind of plants I could buy that would do well in my home and had a great section on pests, diseases and interesting tips on how to make it a "humidity bath", and what is normal (big fat white roots, growing all crazy-like out of the top....normal (who knew?) ). It is a book for the novice, the wimp, the "please, hold my hand and tell me everything," kind of orchid grower....of which I am....and thankful that someone put it all in words for me. It will also let you branch out to other types once you get your "orchid growing chops"....and there are plenty of different varieties to try. So, take the plunge, get the book and learn to grow beautiful orchids.
Not for everyone!.......2002-10-08
While this book is easy to read, and covers many of the basics, and does recommend many easy to grow orchids, it is much too limited in application. If you are an orchid beginner and an apartment dweller in New York City, this is the perfect book for you and most everything applies to your situation. If are an orchid beginner that lives in a house in a warmer climate, some of the advice is just plain poor.
A comfortable, pretty book, but not for everyone.
Book Description
First published in 1929, The Gardener’s Bed-Book is a much beloved gardening classic by the renowned editor of House & Garden magazine in the 1920s and ’30s. Each of its 365 perfectly sized little essays is meant to be read in bed at night after a long day’s work, either real or imagined, in the garden. A charming and mischievously funny companion to curl up with, Wright ranges comfortably—and lyrically—from giving gardening advice to meditating on such topics as antique collecting and travel, great literature and architecture. He is an addictive delight, as memorable describing the challenges of growing plume poppies as he is the simple pleasure of hanging up the dish towel once the housework is done. Written in language that is as timeless as it is seductive, The Gardener’s Bed-Book will appeal to gardening experts and armchair enthusiasts alike.
This Modern Library edition is published with a new Introduction by Dominique Browning, the editor in chief of House & Garden and author of Around the House and in the Garden and the forthcoming Paths of Desire: The Passions of a Suburban Gardener.
Customer Reviews:
Gardening seventy years ago...........2003-10-26
Editor and writer Michael Pollen has added Richardson Wright's THE GARDENER'S BED BOOK (first published in 1929) to the Modern Library Garden Series. Although Wright included an entry for every day of the year plus a longer piece for each of the first 11 months, I read about ten pages a night and thus finished it in about a month. Wright was the editor-in-chief of House and Garden for thirty four years. He and his wife were upscale, maintaining homes in New York City and Connecticut. He had a hired gardener to help him mind his acreage and apparently room for pigs and chickens.
Wright says he has not written a "how-to" gardening book. However, he offers mostly useful garden suggestions at the end of each entry (for those in growing zone 5 or 6 in Connecticut), as well as a few bits of wisdom. Wright also wrote a few comments some will find offensive. Vegetarians will find his interaction with two pigs named WEE-WEE and FANNIE a bit painful. (He raised and slaughtered them during the course of the year.) African Americans may object to either one or both of two entries in the latter part of the book. (i.e., Wright and his wife collected antiques and among other items he was searching for a "yard-boy.")
Wright offers some sage advice, such as working off anger by destroying tent caterpillar nests and never giving up on a plant until you've tried it thrice. He also suggests the need for a club for men who have given up golf and taken up gardening which he views as a superior activity. He has some suggestions about tracking the weather using hard to find antiques such as a Dutch weather glass that may be more reliable than "modern" technology. (My bones are more reliable than modern technology!!) He says one should not attempt to garden on torrid days and suggests laying in the sun as long as you can in October. He laments the loss of burning autumn leaves, and fireplaces consuming cedar or apple wood. He and his wife both think of their "top" garden on days when things are tough in NYC. Wright provides insights into the life of a gentleman gardener living in a different era, but much of what he says remains salient.
Average customer rating:
- tfhgf
- Beautiful, about self-discovery via doing something you love
|
A Growing Gardener
Abbie Zabar
Manufacturer: Universe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Container Gardening
| Techniques
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0789300354
Release Date: 1996-09-15 |
Book Description
Spend the entire year with Abbie Zabar, for your garden and for your soul. From her rooftop perch, Zabar, noted gardener and author of the best-selling The Potted Herb, here shares the practical-- and universal-- truths that are at the heart of everyone's gardening experience. Her rich wisdom will inspire all readers to cultivate their lives with new-found observations and serenity. Abbie Zabar is an award-winning writer, artist, designer, and gardener, who lives in Manhattan. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, one of the foremost resources of botanical art in the world.
Customer Reviews:
tfhgf.......1999-02-17
100
Beautiful, about self-discovery via doing something you love.......1999-02-10
This book is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, and with incredible text, too, which would be easy to overlook given how gorgeous it is visually. It's about coming to know oneself through doing a loved activity well, at the highest level, by a true gourmand who puts Martha Stewart to shame with the quality and care she brings to gardening, cooking, and art. Zabar illustrated and designed the book, as well as wrote the text. She has one of the most famous terrace gardens in New York City, on the penthouse floor overlooking Central Park. She takes you through a year in her garden, opening herself up to the reader about such matters as her divorce, being a woman and artist, materialism, perfectionism, and the beautiful uncontrollability of nature. She is humbled by her garden and learns from it, and teaches what she knows. Throughout the amazing text are quotes from others, written in Zabar's award-winning calligraphy. This book should be read by every woman, gardener, and artist, and should have gotten lots more attention than it did. It's the perfect gift, too, so uplifting and gorgeous!
Product Description
The Gardeners Guide to Growing Hardy Perennial Orchids exposes the best kept secret in the gardening world by introducing the reader to many hardy perennial orchids that can be grown almost anywhere in the US including Alaska with a little care and preparation.
Many beautiful color photographs are included to tantalize the reader and peak their interest in these beautiful plants. Also, many color illustrations are used to demonstrate bed preparation, planting and other cultural practices.
The author divides the discussion into three groups of species Upland, Transition, and Wetland. Within each group, selected species are discussed in detail with a strong focus on a non-technical presentation of the necessary cultural requirements for these species to survive and thrive in most any garden setting.
Some of the principles that are emphasized include:
Hardy orchids survive and thrive in temperate and more frigid climates. In fact, some actually require temperatures at or well below freezing for several months each year to maintain proper growth, much like tulips or daffodils.
The most important requirement for growing this kind of orchid is good soil drainage, which in most cases requires excavation and the addition of premixed soil in a raised bed. Sand or Perlite are key ingredients to achieving good drainage.
Orchids in general have low nutrient requirements, and do not tolerate lots of fertilizer. In fact, the addition of a good leaf or bark compost to the soil mix usually supplies all the nutrients an orchid needs.
The author stresses that while these requirements are relatively easy for most gardeners, terrestrial orchids can not be planted just anywhere and expected to grow. To be successful, its absolutely necessary to plan ahead and prepare a site to meet the specific requirements of a species. This process is covered in depth in The Gardeners Guide to Growing Hardy Perennial Orchids.
Customer Reviews:
Growing Hardy Perennial Orchids by William Mathis.......2007-05-31
An excellent guide for the beginner or experienced gardener interested in growing these relatively unknown orchid species. The consistent structure of this book makes it very easy to find the information the user desires about a particular species after having read it once.
Detailed information is provided regarding the proper techniques for cultivating these orchids in the garden or in containers. What questions that can't be answered by this book can be found by emailing the author who is very approachable and willing to help.
This book is perfect for the beginner or the more experienced gardener who wants to grow terrestrial orchids. No one should grow them without purchasing this book first.
A great book for all gardeners! .......2006-04-23
As for growing orchids in the back yard, I don't think there could be a better book. The real "KICK" that I got from it was that it taught me some very important principles. These concepts can be use in preparations and installations of other plants , like hostas, Japanese maples, hydrangeas and many other plants, I believe I can say that his teachings will take you well beyond that of growing hardy orchids.
The book is a very well written book, in form and composition. Being unlike many other books that are simply writing for profit and lacking in expertise, Dr. Mathis is serious about his work,his explanations, and ideas are complete. He is like the veritable chef that whispers in your ear, that he did indeed use Grand Marnier in the Madeira sauce.
I have read a few books on organic gardening, gardening in general yada yada yada, but I must say this is by far the best book on gardening I have ever read.
Orchids in your garden -- not just for Floridians.......2005-12-17
I live in the Pacific Northwest though I grew up in Montana. My gardening interests started with bonsai, but I quickly also got lured into a fascination with the wildflowers that grow under the forest canopy.
Much to my surprise, there are 200 or more species of orchids that live in the US and Canada, many of them in snowy and colder areas -- like Glacier National Park and Mt. Rainier. More and more material has started to become availalbe through specialty nurseries. So a few years ago, I set out to learn how to grow some of the species in my garden and in pots outdoors. I was hooked.
The unfortunate problem was that, while there are a ton (literally) of books on tropical orchids, there was hardly any information anywhere about how to grow the various species of hardy orchids.
I do not review books. This is my first. William Mathis, an MS in botany and PhD in agronomy, who spent a career as a research scientist for an agricultural company, and then retired to start his own hardy orchid nursery, wrote this book. It is beautiful. Though it's self-published, it's as nicely organized, written, edited, illustrated, and detailed as any gardening book I've ever seen. The color photos, of which there are lots, are stunning. What's more, the book is designed to be practical -- truly a "Gardener's Guide."
This book came out in February 2005 and, sort of ironically, in September, a major gardening book publisher came out with a book on the same topic. I have both and I like them both for different reasons. But for plain usefulness and clearly written text, if I had to pick one, it's this one. When I talked with Mathis about his book he told me that if he'd known that other publisher's book was coming out he wouldn't have done his. I disagree. I find the other book useful. I find this one invaluable.
Book Description
Many gardeners first fall in love with these lavish blooms and extravagant foliage in wintertime, when little else grows with such abandon. Then the affair continues with the discovery of the full range of delightful year-round perennials, including the new strains coming out each year, some for shade, others for sun. Start your romance with the snow-white purity of the Christmas rose, then expand to the variegated Lenten rose, before trying your own year-round hybrids.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful, compulsively readable - the bible of hellebores!.......2000-01-06
Hellebores are some of the best perennial flowers, blooming especially in the dead of winter, and easy to grow, but American gardeners don't seem to know much about them. Here's the best book on the subject, by wellknown garden writer Graham Rice and plantswoman Liz Strangman, who celebrate an extraordinary variety of types and species.
Beautifully-illustrated (with many excellent group shots of single flowers), the text sparkles (as is Graham Rice's penchant), covering such topics as hybrids in the wild and in gardens, an encyclopedia section of the species, how to breed hellebores, the national collections in britain, cultivation, plant associations, with an entire chapter devoted just to the orientalis hybrids. There's also a chapter devoted to "people and their plants" with such sections as "confessions of a hellebore addict" and "margery fish and hellebores at East Lambrook".
Even though these are British authors, this is an easy book to transpose into American growing, with a chapter devoted to "Hellebores in America".
This is a splendid book, well worth buying.
You'll get hooked!.......1997-10-22
Warning: if you read -even browse- this book, you're in danger to get hooked to hellebores for life. The authors know what they are writing about, and shovel sage advice in every page. Several expert growers offer also their knowledge. Not to talk about the simply wonderful colour photographs, that will let you dreaming on hellebores for weeks and weeks and... Simply the best book to enter in Hellebore Land.
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- Easy Care Native Plants: A Guide to Selecting and Using Beautiful American Flowers, Shrubs, and Trees in Gardens and Landscapes
- Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set)
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