100 Orchids for the American Gardener (Smith & Hawken)

By Elvin McDonald and Steven McDonald

Book Overview

Following the striking format of 100 English Roses for the American Garden, here is both a how-to book and a stunningly photographed field guide. Beginning with the one persistent myth surrounding orchids (that they-re difficult to grow) and debunking it thoroughly, Mr. McDonald describes potting mediums, water and air needs, light and lack of light, how to create an orchid garden, and troubleshooting. From there the book introduces 100 dazzling varieties and explains how to raise and care for them, from popular cattleyas and phalaenopsis to hauntingly beautiful ascocendas, charming miltoniopsis, or pansy orchids, vandas and oncidiums.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761110712
• ISBN13: 9780761110712
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Workman Publishing
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 10.2"

Customer Reviews

Sensation

Very informational format for those of us not too knowledgeable on the subject of orchids. Beautiful photographs and clear instructions.

Great Photography!!

I have found this book to be helpful in finding information regarding a specific orchid. I'm the Orchids host at BellaOnline.com and need to be able to research and become familiar with a variety of orchids. This book devotes 2 pages to each of the 100 orchids featured--one page to the growing requirements and the other to a full page color photo of the plant in bloom.You may not be able to find the exact plant pictured, but the information included will give you a good start on finding an orchid with similar needs. If you are looking for a profile of Oncidium "Sharry Baby", you can find one here--with a nice photograph. The first section of the book contains general information on culture, buying orchids and various locations to house your collection.

A good pictoral on orchids, with 100 full pages of pictures.

This book provided a great overview of the main genus of orchids. I would have liked to have seen more about how the genus are related, and which can be crossed to produce a hybrid. Also, what techniques are used for judging orchids? The pictures themselves are worth the price of this book. More than half of the orchids pictured will be imposible to find, but a good local gardener will be able to find you a close match.

Beautiful book, but has a catalog feel.

This book is a good source for orchid lovers. The photos are beautiful, but I couldn't help feel as if I were previewing a fancy catalog. Why were these orchids picked to be in this book? I was disappointed that the plants listed were not of the more readily available variety. I had the book with me when I went into Smith and Hawken and the odd thing was some of the plants they had for sale were not listed in the book. So I guess it's not a catalog after all. A great thing about the book is that it offers information on the plant shown so the reader would have an idea what plant would bloom in what size pot. It also gives you good info on how to care for a specific plant so you don't make the mistake of buying one that would be too difficult to care for.

Easy reading with some mis-leading information

I found this book to be easier than most orchid books to read and understand. It covers a wide variety of orchids. However, it tends to be over simplified. Orchids are not as easy to grow as the author lets on. Also, some of the orchids mentioned in the book are not readily available and some tend to be very costly.Bob Hirnyk