Orchids For Dummies ebook

About the Authors

Steven A. Frowine first started growing orchids under lights when he was in high school. Since then, his love and sometimes obsession for orchids has continued to grow. He has tended orchids professionally as a horticulturist, when he worked in Hawaii at the National Tropical Botanical Garden and at Missouri Botanical Garden, where he was Chairman of Indoor Horticulture and managed one of the largest orchid collections in the United States — over 10,000 plants. Steve’s greatest pleasure from orchids, though, has been growing them in his own home under lights and in windowsills, which he has done now for over 40 years.

Steve has a B.S. and M.S. in horticulture from Ohio State University and Cornell, respectively. He has had a long and rich career working as a professional horticulturist for premier botanical gardens in the United States and as an executive at top horticultural businesses including W. Atlee Burpee Company, White Flower Farm, and International Gardening Products. Steve is sought out as a lecturer and has delivered hundreds of lectures throughout the country. His presentations are noted for his excellent photography, his knowledge of the subject, and his sense of humor. He has appeared on various national TV shows and writes extensively, authoring many articles for horticultural trade and consumer magazines. His second book, Fragrant Orchids, will be released in the fall of 2005.

Steve is now president of his own horticultural consulting firm, where he works with various horticultural companies on marketing and public-relations issues.

The National Gardening Association (NGA), founded in 1972, is a national not-for-profit leader in plant-based education. Its mission is to promote home, school, and community gardening as a means to renew and sustain the essential connection between people, plants, and the environment. For more information on the National Gardening Association, visit its Web site at www.garden.org.

Dedication

To my mother, Janet, and my late father, Samuel, who encouraged me to pursue in my life and work what I loved and believed in.

To my loving wife, Sascha, who shares my passions and tolerates my obsessions.

Author’s Acknowledgments

Many thanks are extended to Glen Decker, who served as the technical editor for this book. It is comforting to have someone with Glen’s extensive experience and knowledge pore over my manuscript and lend his constructive, helpful criticism, as well as make sure the information presented rings true. To my Project Editor, Elizabeth Kuball, who greatly helped to mold and shape this book to be the best it could be, and to Tracy Boggier, my Acquisitions Editor, who helped me pitch this book to the folks at Wiley, more thanks.

I am also appreciative to the National Gardening Association, which does admirable good works, and specifically to Larry Sommers and Charlie Nardozzi, of this organization, for giving me the opportunity to produce this book.

The American Orchid Society, The Orchid Digest, and the International Phalaenopsis Society deserve a round of applause for the world-class publications they produce and the information they disseminate to the legends of new and veteran orchid lovers. I have made frequent use of all of them for many years.

The orchid community of amateur and professional growers and orchid societies, who inform members and put on orchid shows, get accolades for their dedication and efforts. Many have been immensely helpful to me.

Lastly, I want to thank my wife, Sascha, for her patience in putting up with me pounding away at the keyboard for seemingly countless days, evenings, and weekends, and to my dogs, Ginger and Zoe, who always provided pleasant company and never complained (unless I didn’t feed them on time!).

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Elizabeth Kuball

Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier

Technical Editor: Glen Decker

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Supervisor: Carmen Krikorian

Editorial Assistants: Courtney Allen, Nadine Bell

Cover Photos: © ChromaZone Images/ Index Stock Imagery/PictureQuest

Cartoons: Rich Tennant, www.the5thwave.com

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez

Layout and Graphics: Karl Brandt, Andrea Dahl, Joyce Haughey, Stephanie D. Jumper, Barry Offringa, Jacque Roth, Heather Ryan, Brent Savage, Rashell Smith

Proofreaders: Laura Albert, Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer, Aptara

Indexer: Aptara

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies

Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel

Brice Gosnell, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Title

Part I : Welcoming Orchids into Your Life

Part II : The Basics of Orchid Parenthood

Part III : The Best Orchids for Rookies

Part IV : The Part of Tens

: Color Insert

About This Book

This book gives you all you need to know to grow, appreciate, and bloom orchids in your home — in a concise, easy-to-read manner. This family of plants is so humongous that you may be overwhelmed by the prospect of choosing and growing one of your own, so I show you only the groups of orchids that are the easier ones to grow. I also make a point of adding lots of illustrations and photos (most of which were taken by me) to show you what I’m talking about.

I want you to feel comfortable with these dazzling plants and get to know them on a personal basis. Then you’ll be eager to discover all their mysteries by slowing down your busy life to savor orchids’ inimitable flowers, inhale their sensuous perfumes, and observe the unique construction of their roots and leaves.

Conventions Used in This Book

Orchid names are in Latin, which is a challenge for most people (except your high school Latin teacher) to pronounce and remember. Don’t worry about it. Just get into these names gradually. Take some solace in knowing everyone else is struggling with them, too!

With such a complex group of plants come names and jargon to match. This aspect of orchid growing is what scares most people off. Don’t let this happen to you! They’re just names and words that scientists have assigned to plants because they had to call them something. Think of orchid names as another language that you can figure out as you go along — with my help. In this book, I make the jargon as simple as possible and explain each term in a way that is easy to understand.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, I’ve assumed a few things about you and your experience with orchids. At least one of the following applies to you:

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized into parts, each of which contains several chapters.

Icons Used in This Book

I use the following icons throughout the book to point out particularly important information:

When you see this icon, you can be sure to find information that will make you a more successful orchid grower.

This icon points out some common pitfalls you want to steer clear of when growing orchids.

This icon highlights information worth remembering when you’re working with your orchids.

Take it or leave it. This icon points out information that may help you win your next game of Trivial Pursuit or convince you that you could be the next Jeopardy! champion, but it’s not essential to your understanding the topic at hand.

When you see this icon, you can be sure to find a particularly fragrant orchid.

Where to Go from Here

This book is set up in digestible, stand-alone pieces. Pick out sections that interest you most and read them first. You can bounce around in the book any way you please.

If you already have orchids but are having difficulties growing them, you may want to start out with Part IV. It gives you quick answers to common problems.

Trying to decide which orchid you should start with? Look at Chapters 2 and 15. To get jazzed about orchids, check out the section of color photographs. And if you have an orchid that is in dire need of repotting, skip right to Chapter 7.