Customer Reviews

Botanica's Orchids: Over 1200 Species (Botanica's Gardening Series)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Gorgeous book at a reasonable price! Great photos, good representation of many species. Not all intergenerics represented. Brief descriptions of care - may want to cross-reference with other books for in-depth care.

This compact guide provides straight to the point advice on identifying and growing the huge range of orchids. Each listed species has an accompanying full-color picture which makes identification really easy. Information on climate and cultivation of each species takes the guess-work out of deciding whether a hobbyist would be successful with growing it. Add to this the reasonable price and easy to carry size, this is a must for both beginner and intermediate hobbyists.

Orchids are an everyday hobby and I have lots of references on them. I use this as a guide and identifier often. I didn't buy it to be an overview on everything orchids just for the above and it is great for that purpose. If you know about orchids there is no single reference and it is a study that is always changing. I enjoy this book and recommend it these are your needs.

I've only had this book for 2 weeks, but its been a godsend! I recently purchased 5 orchids that I am not familiar with and learned by reading the entry on the specific genus how and what to use as potting medium and light requirements. I believe this will become my orchid 'bible'.

This book is a terrific encyclopedia of orchids. Unfortunately it has not kept up with the galloping taxonomists who make life for the serious grower. It is inexpensive and of all the "Encyclopedias" published through 2008 the least expensive, the most jam-packed---but not enough for the serious grower aspiring to becoming a an AOS judge--though it would be a good study tool.. The world is moving to computerized systems to keep up with the changes in orchid naming. Matt Cohen Zen of Watering Your Garden

This is an excellent book and should be in the home of any orchid enthusiast that enjoys species. There are over 1200 species listed with color photos. This helps make identification much easier.

Since I have had my book for only a few days it is still in excellent condition but others I know who have purchased this title have had a problem with the paper cover coming loose. Also, some of their pages have seperated. Hopefully the quality of this one will be better but even if not then I would purchase it again.

While the contents are very informative and extensive the quality of the book itself is far less than expected. I had been using it for less than two weeks when the cover started detaching from the core. Now it is in such a condition that is nearly unmanagable without constant extra carefulness not normally associated with a well made book.

No doubt this is a great book. Many of the more common species were detailed in this little encylopedia, but I found that some species were left out. For example, I would expect most of the cymbidium species to be listed, but only a few are which is slightly disappointing to me. For others, this might not be the case as the book gives accurate information about the orchids it does cover and it covers the fairly popular species that beginning hobbyists might like to look up

The photos and information are fabulous. Unfortunately the book quality is poor. The binding has completely separated from the pages and I have to keep the pages together with a rubberband!

There is a lot of information for the orchid lover, novice like me in particular.