Orchids (ISBN 155209569X)

A level-headed breath of fresh air:
Jim James has given us a delightful addition to an orchid enthusiast's collection of titles on basic orchid growing. His book includes crisp, accurate line drawings by Gillian James and over fifty wonderful photographs of easy-to-grow species and hybrids to choose from as we dip our toes into the heady waters of orchid growing. "Orchids" gives advice on handling bugs and bacteria, outlines potting and propogation, demystifies fertilizer, and explains clearly those factors that affect watering practices. And with about 60% of orchid growers doing so in the home, there is a nice section on growing under lights. From me, the rating is five stars.

I learned so much:
Since I often visit Longwood Gardens and am fascinated by the orchid room there, I thought this would be a good book to have. I did, however, find it a little more technical than I really wanted, and have decided that I will just buy an orchid plant 2-3 times a year and enjoy it rather than worry about its cultivation, growing needs, and propagation. The book's introduction told me that the orchid is the most highly evolved of all plant families, with 25,000 species in the wild and over 100,000 cultivated species. Orchids are found on trees, on rock faces, and in soil. They are monocotyledons --their flower parts are arranged in groups of three or multiples of three. Something I never knew was that the flower exists solely to attract and manipulate a pollinator, and then the flower dies. In the section on orchid history, I learned that there were exotic orchids in England at the end of the 18th century, mostly in botanical gardens. When private owners acquired them, at first the flowers were put into "stove houses" (greenhouses) but these had too little air and too much heat. This was the time of "plant hunters' who went on expeditions to find exotic flowers. By early Victorian times, orchids were status symbols for the wealthy, which led to over-collection. Today, the destruction of the rain forests threatens many orchid species. The prices of orchids plummeted in 1922 when Professor Knudsen at Cornell University germinated and grew orchids in a sterile medium. In the section entitled "Some Basics", I found out that orchids are not grown in soil but in an inert medium. They need some shade--filtered light like that under a tree canopy in the forest--and circulating air. The temperature differential must be significant or the orchids will not flower. They need a 50% + level of humidity to thrive and blasts of dry hot air are bad for them. In the rest of the book, James talks about the growing environment, growing media, containers, feeding, watering, pests, diseases, potting, and propagation. Interesting material, but like I said, I think I will continue to buy mine one at a time and enjoy them for as long as they manage to live in my environment.