Orchids For Dummies [Paperback]

Steven A. Frowine (Author), National Gardening Association (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2005

Packed with photos, including 8 pages in full color

Color your world with orchids

Orchids are beautiful, fragrant, wonderfully varied, and surprisingly affordable. But aren't they hard to grow at home? No! says orchid grower extraordinaire Steve Frowine. In this handy guide, he shows you step by step how to select the right orchids, keep them healthy, encourage blooms, and even propagate your own plants.

Discover how to:
* Select orchids that will thrive in your home
* Water, fertilize, repot, and propagate orchids
* Decipher complicated orchid names
* Get familiar with favorite orchid varieties
* Create spectacular orchid displays

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Believe it or not, orchids — the most glamorous and spectacular flowering plants in the world, nature’s true masterpieces — are easy to grow! You just need to give them what they need. And their requirements are not difficult to meet — adequate light, humidity, water, and ventilation. Sure, there are other nuances, like fertilizing, repotting, insect and disease control, but none of these are daunting. I’ve been growing and blooming orchids in my home for almost 40 years — mostly not in a greenhouse, but under lights or in the windowsill. Helping you achieve success with these glorious plants is my pleasurable mission. If you follow the steps I lay out in this book, you will grow orchids that thrive. Everything in this book comes from many years of my own trials and errors — not from theories about what should happen or what orchids might need. Sure, I’m a professional horticulturist, but probably more importantly, I’m a hands-on, sometimes fanatical, home orchid grower. I don’t share with you anything in this book that I haven’t tried myself or am sure that works. Years ago, the methods of orchid culture were well-guarded secrets, hoarded by commercial growers and private estate gardeners. That’s not the case here. This is a tell-all book where all secrets are revealed. So you can now enter this wonderful world of orchids without fear, knowing that you’re armed with the information you need to be successful and enjoy one of the most rewarding and fascinating, lifelong hobbies that you’ll ever experience — growing orchids.

From the Back Cover

Packed with photos, including 8 pages in full color

Color your world with orchids

Orchids are beautiful, fragrant, wonderfully varied, and surprisingly affordable. But aren't they hard to grow at home? No! says orchid grower extraordinaire Steve Frowine. In this handy guide, he shows you step by step how to select the right orchids, keep them healthy, encourage blooms, and even propagate your own plants.

Discover how to:

• Select orchids that will thrive in your home
• Water, fertilize, repot, and propagate orchids
• Decipher complicated orchid names
• Get familiar with favorite orchid varieties
• Create spectacular orchid displays

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (February 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764567594
• ISBN-13: 978-0764567599
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a professional horticulturist, a consultant to the green industry, and an active garden writer and speaker. I have passionately grown 100's of orchids in my various homes throughout the US for almost 40 years and now live in Ajijic, Mexico with my wife, Sascha, and three dogs, Zoe, Tallulah, and Ben. I greatly enjoy growing orchids and other tropical plants year around outdoors in this frost-free climate.
I hold B.S. and M.S. degrees in horticulture from Ohio State University and Cornell University respectively.
More more info about me and my background go to: http://members.authorsguild.net/stevefrow/bio.htm

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For dummies., March 28, 2005

By 

Massimo Maddaloni "Maddmax1" (Bozeman, MT United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Orchids For Dummies (Paperback)

The title says it all. It is a good starter and you'll learn how to take care of your orchids. The chapter about resources is truly excellent. However, this book won't take you much further from the basics, in my opinion. The colour plates are beautiful, but they are just a handful (8 pages). Black and white pictures don't make much sense here, after all this book is about orchids, right?
In the same price range I strongly recommend "Growing orchids" by Rittershausen, which contains almost the same information of more expensive books, and shows hundreds of colour pictures of very good quality. If you are willing to spend a little more, buy either "Understanding orchids" or "Orchid's grower companion". Here you are paying for the "for Dummies" trademark. This book would be a good buy at half of the price.
As of now, all the 5 stars reviews have been written by people with ONE review in their accounts. Ask yourself "how come?"

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A VERY INFORMATIVE AND READABLE WORK., August 13, 2008

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Orchids For Dummies (Paperback)

This is actually a pretty good starter book. There are a vast number of books out there addressing the subjects of growing, identification, history, etc. of these wonderful plants, but for those that just bought their first orchid, or are contemplating such, then this is as good a book to start with as any. Needless to say, no book can do it all for you and as you grow in this wonderful hobby, you will want to check on more of the wonderful resources available. When I first began raising orchids, it was hard to find anything that was meant for the general public, and most orchid books were unreadable (if you could even find them) unless you had a degree on horticulture. I killed off quite a few of these plants in my learning process, still do for that matter, but that is what is so fascinating about this hobby, i.e. there is always so much more to learn.

As with all the idiot books, this one covers your basic informational needs, from selecting a good starter plant on to its care and maintenance. It has humor thrown in here and there, which makes for a pleasing read. Now this in not a "picture book" of orchids nor is it meant to be. Goodness knows there are many high dollar books out there to fulfill this need. I liked this particular work as it does well illustrate that orchids are not as difficult to raise as many feel they are. Yes, some have very specialized needs, but for the most part, the orchids you have access to are not all that difficult if you just know what you are doing. This book gives you that basic knowledge to get you started. It uses simple terms and written in an easy style that does not send you running to the dictionary with every turned page. The illustrations are quite well done.

Now as for this being a book only for beginners, hmmm, I am not quite sure what to say about that. Granted, much of the information found here is basic and the entire work is not written in the dry, academic mode so often found in these works. I am certainly no expert myself, but have been messing with these plants for quite a number of years now, and to be quite frank, I learned a few things myself. Some of the stuff I thought I knew, I did not know. It may be just me, but I have found that as with most things you need to beware of "experts" and their advice. It is nice to hear their opinion, but you always need to check the facts our for yourself and from multiple sources.

I highly recommend this one for beginners and feel that a lot of the "old timers" could probably benefit from giving this one a read.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Beginner Orchid Book, March 14, 2005

By 

Charlie Nardozzi "Charlie" (Shelburne, Vermont) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orchids For Dummies (Paperback)

As a beginning orchid grower I was a bit intimidated by the whole topic. But after reading Frowine's book, the topic seems much more approachable. I've started with a few moth orchids and they've done well, but now I'm inspired to try some oncidiums and paphiopedilums. I really would like to try some fragrant orchids as well.

I like the straight forward cultural information. It's clear the temperature, humidity, and light levels needed for the various orchids. It gives me a sense of which ones to try and which to wait on. The orchid photos in the center are inspiring, though I'd love to see more!

I also liked the in-depth listing of varieties for the various orchid types. There's a whole world of orchids out there to grow.

A great book for anyone starting out in orchids growing. Clearly written with the usual "dummies" humor and lightness. A good starting point for orchid growing.