(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best flower gardening books

Northen's Home Orchid Growing is dated, but a very good book on cultivation. Bechtel's Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species is excellent- I think there's a newer edition out, but to heck if I can remember when it was published.

Ortho's orchid book is surprisingly good- mainly on cultivation.

Isobyl's New Encyclopedia of Orchids is excellent.

If she likes specific genera- paphiopedilums, phalaenopsis, cattleyas, dendrobiums, etc.- there are specific texts on each of these, and many more.

https://www.amazon.com/Perennials-Time-Life-Complete-Gardener/dp/0783541007


Time life has a great series. Honestly they Are so cheap you can't go wrong. Selection guide, a little botany, planting guides, trouble shooting, gorgeous inspirational photos, "encyclopedia" section. Geoff hamiltons the organic garden book has been a favorite of mine for years. Covers soil, pests, weeds, garden plans. It covers flowers but not a whole lot on herbs. Also the complete book of herbs by Lesley bremness. Finally there's a series by ortho called "all about...". I have the perennials one. There's also an herb one, one on annuals, one on vines, one on bulbs, etc. These are prob all "dirt cheap" on amazon. Good places to start your gardening library. It's nice to have different ones for different ideas and photos, but I think you'll like these and so does my engineer hubby! Enjoy!

It has nothing to do with trust; when someone is using well known mathematical or physical facts, it's easy to check does the sentence make any sense. When the mathematics is WRONG and the ideas can't be checked at all - insert any random spiritual idea that is speculative - well, then you know everything is a scam...

The best books you can find on "Sacred geometry" are by J. Kapraff - "Connections" and "Beyond measure". Expensive collections of essays that usually start from no pre-requested knowledge to semi-advanced topics - the author is math. proffesor with some interesting research papers.

Other authors with many good books: Ian Stewart (easy to read), J. H. Conway (medium to advanced), K. Critchlow ( medium to advanced - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Geometry-Flowers-Living-Rhythms/dp/0863158064/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537534712&sr=1-1&keywords=Critchlow+hidden this one has very beautiful pictures too ), R. Penrose (advanced).

I'm new to gardening in this climate, myself. Here are some books and websites I've found useful:

Specific to vegetable gardening: https://www.amazon.com/Timber-Vegetable-Gardening-Southeast-Regional/dp/1604693711/

For seed varieties and gardening information specific to the Southeast, these people are really, really good: http://www.southernexposure.com/

A useful book if you're looking for non-edible/landscaping-related information: https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-South-Complete-Homeowners-Guide/dp/1604695919

The Houzz forums are useful for real-live-human experiences with what survived and didn't: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/georgia-gardener

Walter Reeves is a frequent recommendation: http://www.walterreeves.com/

If you want really deep tomato knowledge from intense tomato people: http://tomatoville.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54

So far I've learned that you do well to be skeptical of what's being sold at big box stores, it seems that a lot of the varieties they sell are probably stocked nationwide and aren't necessarily the best choices for this climate. Good luck gardening!

If you can avoid it, don't grow your fruit or vegetables in the actual soil. Get yourself some potting mix and pot them. New Orleans soil is too acidic and also can contain lead. So do yourself a favor and just get the stuff piped in. My grandmother has most of her tomato and pepper plants in old Home Depot buckets with wire chimneys for the plants to grow onto, if that gives you an idea.

Citrus tends to be a crapshoot around here; my grandmother has a lemon and a satsuma tree and some of my neighbors grow lemons and limes, but others I know can't get them to grow. These, obviously, have to grow directly in the soil.

Tomatoes are another touchy plant; from what I understand, the climate isn't ideal but they'll grow for the most part. They tend to grow better in north/west Louisiana than around these parts. Cherry tomatoes will be more plentiful than beefsteak or heirloom.

As mentioned already, peppers (bell and banana especially) and herbs (rosemary grows great here, plus basil and cilantro).

Also, a really good resource is LSU Ag Center's planting guide, as well as Dan Gill's Louisiana Gardner's Guide. If I'm not mistaken, Dan Gill actually works (or worked) at the Ag Center, but that book is published independently.

Rhttps://www.amazon.com/Masdevallias-Orchid-World-Mary-Gerritsen/dp/0881927376

I haven’t gotten very far into this book, but it does have a fair amount of info on the historical discoveries in the genus and it’s certainly a niche book. It, of course, does have car info too. Not sure it’s what you’re looking for but may be worth checking out!

Also, not books but you may be able to find some more scientific reads over on Google Scholar- a review paper on a groups evolution may be easily found and for your bill as well.

To add to Guygan's response - I really like this book.

​

To answer your question - hardwood cutting is a fall/winter technique where you take woody material, let it callous, and then let it wake up and root in the spring. Softwood or semihard is a spring/early summer technique where you take fresh growth that is beginning to become ligneous and root that. You generally want your cutting to be not the super soft new growth at the tip, but the firmer stuff down below. Remember wood is a carbohydrate that the plant can use in an emergency situation, so a slightly woody but still growing cutting is going to give you your best chance because the wood feeds while the growing hormones are still pumping.

Well with my original brugmansia 5 years ago I believe that I severely underfed it. They are really hungry plants. It also could have used a larger pot. This book helped me to figure out what it really needed. I highly recommend it.

I didn't realize it until last summer, but underfeeding my plants had consistently been a problem for me ever since I started gardening. I had always used liquid plant foods and was never consistent enough with it to keep my hundred or so ornamental plants really happy. I switched almost entirely over to slow release dry fertilizers. Both organic and inorganic, depending on type of plant, location, and it's nutritional needs. The kind of things you only give the plant every 3-4 months. It's a lot easier for me to keep plants fed well if it doesn't take an extra step every time I have to water. Once my plants were well fed, they became much more resistant to pests and more resilient to stress. It's surprising just how much of a difference consistent fertilizing can make.

The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds: 322 Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, Trees, and Shrubs - Robert Gough

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1603425748/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_8eWDDb5T5J4ZY

One of my favorite references. Also seed savers exchange has some pretty good resources. Seedsavers.org

Going from the book understanding orchids (which is pretty great), it looks like we can sterilize glass jars (boiling in a pressure cooker sounds like enough), then fill them with germination medium.

Although it sounds like you can ship off your seeds to flanking services that will do it for you!

Absolutely loved this book when I was getting into growing. I also had this one which was nice too.

Most of the information that I have found is in books. Some of the books are out of print and quite expensive. I enjoyed this book and the used copies are quite reasonable.

There is also a bromeliad society website and newsletter that you may want to check out.

I have probably 6 different species of bromeliads in my atrium- most of them I have been given by some friends who used to grow them for the San Diego Zoo.

I found some more for you:

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Edible-Wild-Plants/dp/0811734471/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486204&sr=1-3&keywords=field+guide+to+edible+wild+plants

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Full-Color-Wildflowers-Weeds/dp/0671608835/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486260&sr=1-7&keywords=wildflowers+and+weeds+booth+courtenay

https://www.amazon.com/Trees-Shrubs-Virginia-Oscar-Gupton/dp/0813908868/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486309&sr=1-1&keywords=Trees+and+shrubs+of+Virginia

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Medicinal-Wild-Plants/dp/0811734935/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486334&sr=1-1&keywords=Field+guide+to+medicinal+wild+plants

https://www.amazon.com/American-Horticultural-Society-Flower-Finder/dp/0671723456/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486392&sr=1-1&keywords=flower+finder+Jacqueline+heriteau

https://www.amazon.com/Killer-plants-poisonous-plant-guide/dp/B0007JJHIK/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486436&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=killer+plants+joseph+kuzma

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Along-Blue-Ridge-Parkway/dp/B0007HHCIE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486474&sr=1-1&keywords=nature+along+the+blue+ridge+parkway

https://www.amazon.com/Flower-Expert-D-G-Hessayon/dp/0903505525/ref=la_B001KMG5W4_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486507&sr=1-7

Those are really good books. They’re my moms and we’ve used them a lot over the years. I also really like the folding waterproof guides. They’re small enough to put in your pocket. Here are some links to em:

https://www.amazon.com/Wildflowers-Mid-Atlantic-States-MD-NY/dp/1943334250/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486632&sr=1-1&keywords=wildflowers+of+the+mid-Atlantic+states

https://www.foldingguides.com/product/sibleys-trees-of-trails-forests-of-the-southeast/

https://www.foldingguides.com/a_fg-southeast/

https://www.foldingguides.com/foldingguides-southwest/

http://www.waterfordpress.com/products/pocket-naturalist-guides/state/virginia.html

The Tulip by Anna Pavord and The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan both give excellent descriptions of 'Tulipomania' in Holland in the 1700s.

I currently have 2 books for sale on Amazon!

1. Color & Swear - This is one of the PDFs you received when you signed up. However, it does include 7 bonus pages that you didn't receive in the PDFs.
   
   
2. Screw You As*hole - This book is different and is not in any of the PDFs. However, the style varies from the coloring book I linked to in this post. This book comes with a link to a printable version. Since your interest level is high I'll give you the link:)
   
   Here it is: Screw You As*hole (Printable)
   
   Sorry if that is confusing. If you have any more questions let me know!

http://www.amazon.com/Wildflowers-Ohio-Second-Edition-Robert/dp/0253219515

Do you know about this book? Not being snarky here; it just seems that you are interested enough in your local plants that it might be a good thing to buy.