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This inspirational book from Kew's orchid experts reveals the easiest, most attractive and most popular plants to grow today. Orchids come from the second largest plant family (with 28,000 members) and have a reputation for diversity and trickiness - but expert Philip Seaton chooses 60 of the best species to become permanent and happy members of your home.
Through a combination of
12 projects and easy to follow practical advice he shows how to welcome new plants, to revive their flagging spirits as well as their basic care and cultivation. He shows how to produce and train flowers, to collect and sow their seed, and how to plant and display them in a terrarium, or on bark or in a basket.
Find out
when to water them,
how to repot them and the
ideal room and conditions that each orchid needs to thrive. The combination of botanical beauty and practical advice will inspire beginners and experienced growers to grow new species in many different ways.
This book is from the
Kew Experts series, in which the top gardeners and botanical scientists from Royal Botanic Kew Gardens offer up advice and information as well as suggesting handy projects on a range of gardening topics. Other titles include:
Companion to Medicinal Plants, Guide to Growing Bulbs, Guide to Growing Fruit, Guide to Growing Herbs, Guide to Growing Roses, Guide to Growing Succulents and Cacti, Guide to Growing Trees, Guide to Growing Vegetables and
Guide to Growing House Plants.
List of contents
INTRODUCTION TO GROWING ORCHIDS
PLANTS
Angraecum magdalenae
Tulip orchid
Barkeria spectabilis
Hyacinth orchid
PROJECT 1: CREATING AN ORCHID MINI-MEADOW
Brassavola perrinii
Spider orchid
Bulbophyllum comosum
Bulbophyllum echinolabium
PROJECT 2: GROWING TROPICAL ORCHIDS FROM A FLASK OF SEEDLINGS
Evergreen calanthe
Tropical calanthe
Cambria
Cattleya cernua
Cattleya trianae
PROJECT 3: COMPANION PLANTING ON A WINDOWSILL
Coelia bella
Coelogyne cristata
Cuitlauzina pendula
Cymbidium lowianum
PROJECT 4: REPOTTING A CYMBIDIUM
Showy orchid
Dancing lady
PROJECT 5: REPOTTING A CYPRIPEDIUM
Cyrtochilum macranthum
Common spotted orchid
PROJECT 6: GROWING A DACTYLORHIZA FROM SEED
Dendrobium bigibbum
Dendrobium cuthbertsonii
Dendrobium kingianum
Noble orchid
Dendrobium speciosum
Pride of Table Mountain
Vampire orchid
Chatterbox orchid
Guaria morada
Habenaria medusa
PROJECT 7: GROWING ORCHIDS IN A BASKET
Laelia anceps
Lepanthes calodictyon
Leptotes bicolor
Jewel orchid
Lycaste aromatica
Masdevallia hybrids
Masdevallia rosea
Maxillaria tenuifolia
PROJECT 8: MOUNTING ORCHIDS ON BARK
Pansy orchid
Columbian pink pansy orchid
Princess Alexandra’s oncidium
Oncidium ornithorhynchum
Bee orchid
Asian slipper orchid
PROJECT 9: TRAINING FLOWER SPIKES
Moth orchid
Phalaenopsis schilleriana
South American slipper orchid
PROJECT 10: MAKING A CORSAGE
Pleione formosana
Cockleshell orchid
Butterfly orchid
Blunt greenhood
Restrepia striata
Foxtail orchid
PROJECT 11: PLANTING UP A TERRARIUM
Sarcochilus hartmannii
Sobralia macrantha
Stanhopea tigrina
Stelis emarginata
Stenoglottis fimbriata
Vanda ampullacea
PROJECT 12: POLLINATING ORCHIDS
Blue vanda
Wind orchid
Vanilla orchid
Zygopetalum mackayi
Where to see orchids
Orchid conservation
Troubleshooting
What to do when
Index
Acknowledgments
About the author
Philip Seaton is an expert orchid grower, conservationist and lecturer and author of three books on the subject with Kew publishing. He is Secretary of the Orchid Specialist Group (OSG) and an honorary Research Assistant at Kew. At Kidderminster College, Philip lectures on seed growing techniques both in the UK and Latin America, and has co-authored landmark scientific papers on the subject.
KEW ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS has built a global resource for medicinal plant names that enables health professionals and researchers to access information about plants and plant products relevant to pharmacological research, health regulation, traditional medicine and functional foods.
Summary
A combination of botanical beauty and practical advice in The Kew Gardener’s Guide to Growing Orchids will inspire beginners and experienced growers to love and grow 60 beautiful orchids.
