What orchid books do you recommend?

[camille1585]

Hi!
I'm compiling my christmas wishlist and am looking for some good orchid books. Anybody have any they'd like to recommend?
I already saw on OB a review for "Understanding orchids:An Uncomplicated Guide To Growing The World's Most Exotic Plants" Must have it!

[puddin]

You know the Dummies series, right? There is an Orchid Book for Dummies. I thought that was good.

[Ross]

I would recommend

Timber Press: Miniature Orchids

and

Timber Press: Fragrant Orchids

[tuvoc]

One of my favorites is 'The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids' by Alec Pridgeon, also from Timber Press.

Kim

[camille1585]

Thanks for the great ideas! I saw the miniature orchids books in a bookstore (written in french), but I prefer them in English... Now to find them in France. I will most likely tell my family to get them off amazon.com to take advantage of the great € to $ exchange rate!

[Ross]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Thanks for the great ideas! I saw the miniature orchids books in a bookstore (written in french), but I prefer them in English... Now to find them in France. I will most likely tell my family to get them off amazon.com to take advantage of the great € to $ exchange rate!

Try Timber Press: Books on gardening, horticulture, botany, natural history, and the Pacific Northwest the publisher. Perhaps they ship overseas?

[quiltergal]

Ross did you end up buying the Miniature Orchid book? I really like it. I think his basic orchid culture in the beginning is also excellent.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Ross did you end up buying the Miniature Orchid book? I really like it. I think his basic orchid culture in the beginning is also excellent.

Yes I did. It is way better (in my opinion) than Rebecca Northern's older book and I also got the one the author has on Fragrant Orchids. Just as good.

[Graehstone]

For what it's worth I think that this one here is hands down one of the best books out there for "super growers" and "novice" alike as it takes the reader into a world that the normal "Joe" on the street could not even begin to imagine exists, let alone us "hardened" folks.
Very easy to read and had me run the gamut of emotions from incredulity to down right guffaw on the floor.


In 1993 Eric Hansen led an expedition into the steaming jungles of Borneo to find the world's rarest orchid. Seven years later he was still on the trail of the true story behind one of nature's strangest plants and humanity's greatest obsessions.
Orchid Fever is a seductive journey into the mesmerizing world of orchids. From the Orinoco River to the hothouses of Kew, and from the clandestine nurseries of Europe to the peat bogs of northern Minnesota, this is a tale of luscious, sexy flowers, orchid smugglers, fist fighting botanists, moths with twelve inch-long tongues, murder, corruption, and government officials who raid orchid nurseries with attack dogs and automatic weapons. Strange tales of insect pollenator fidelity and the orchid ice cream makers of Eastern Turkey, are blended with haunting stories about a wide range of gentle people whose passion in life is the creation of scented, fragile flowers.
Eric Hansen spent seven years exploring the far corners of the earth - marveling at flowers of uncommon beauty, studying the history of the orchid trade, and grappling with the vicious, bizarre, and petty world of plant politics that sometimes makes it impossible to protect endangered species of orchids. Hansen brings to life colorful flowers and the even more colorful people who are attracted to them, as he illuminates a funny, wierd, and poignant world of horticultural passion and pathos.
Orchid Fever - A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacy

[Tsuchibuta]

I second that about the Orchid Fever book, I really enjoyed it. You have to get over the authors great distaste for cities though. Otherwise it is a great book. There really are hundreds of great orchid books and I wouldn't worry about being too picky, they all really say pretty much the same thing just with different pictures. Now if you are into a particular kind or species that's different, but from the sounds of it you seem to just be looking for a general knowledge book. For propagation I like Aaron Hicks book from The orchid seed bank or Orchids from Seed for Pennies in the Kitchen by C. D. Moullon. If you like history then go for A History of the Orchid by Merle A. Reinikka