Understanding Orchids

Orchids are the largest family of plants in the world. With 30,000 known species, you could acquire a different orchid every day for eighty years and still not grow them all. Back in the realm of reality, readers of this beautiful book can quickly and easily find the orchids that are right for them -- which ones will thrive on a windowsill, which prefer artificial lights, and which need a greenhouse; which are for beginners, which for experts. And you can pinpoint the species within a particular genus that are the best ones to start with. Once you select your orchid, William Cullina's authoritative guide explains what to do to keep it alive and healthy. Featuring more than two hundred color photographs, Understanding Orchids covers everything you need to know to grow orchids successfully, whatever your level of interest or experience. With improved tissue-culture techniques making orchids more affordable, and the Internet making them readily available to consumers, growing orchids is more popular than ever: membership in the American Orchid Society has more than doubled in the last fifteen years. This is the book orchid fans have been waiting for.

William Cullina, nursery manager and propagator at the Garden in the Woods, the famous showplace headquarters of the New England Wild Flower Society, has been passionate about plants since he was a child. He has traveled extensively in the United States and Canada, studying and photographing plants. His very wide interests include collecting orchids (one thousand miniature epiphytes), making wheel-thrown stoneware, and building furniture from wood he has cut and turned to lumber himself. He writes for the major gardening magazines and is in great demand as a speaker.