How to Grow Native Orchids in Gardens Large and Small: The comprehensive guide to cultivating local species

A beautifully illustrated, step-by-step guide to growing native orchids from seed in your garden. Learn how to cherish these remarkable flowers and help them flourish in their natural habitat with this easy-to-use guide. Native orchids are neither difficult to cultivate nor require special conditions to thrive, and while a large meadow may be beyond the reach of most, the corner of a garden or a pot on a patio can provide a home to a spectacular display. This unique book includes valuable information on which species of orchids will work in your garden and what companion plants to grow next to them, as well as instructions on how to grow orchids from seed or in a container and how to start an orchid meadow or add orchids to an orchard, preserving and promoting local ecosystems. Beautifully illustrated throughout with photographs and illustrations, this essential guide will show you how easy it is to grow native orchids and how to create a protected environment in which declining species can thrive undisturbed.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part 1: Understanding orchids A love affair with orchids The structure and life cycle of native orchids Native orchids suitable for cultivation Part 2: Cultivation Growing orchids in your garden: the basics Raising plants from seed Pests and diseases Part 3: Orchid communities Creating a garden meadow An orchid orchard or garden glade Orchids in rockeries or damp ground Repopulating wild areas Resources

About the Author :
Dave Morgan is an active member of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI). With a PhD in plant physiology, he has written for the Orchid Review and The Clematis. His paintings are regularly exhibited. Wilson Wall runs Bewdley Orchids and has published extensively in the field of biological science, as a clinical cytogeneticist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. A Chartered Biologist, Wilson has a PhD in genetics and a long interest in growing orchids from seed.

Review :
An easy-to-read, practical guide to growing native orchids and a compelling call to action for British gardeners to help save our threatened species. Such delicate illustrations in this informative book. A must for orchid growers. Everything you need to know is here, presented in a very readable and interesting way. The many excellent illustrations, photographs and diagrams further enhance the quality of this volume. This excellent book has inspired me to establish some native orchids in my patch - the authors make failure sound difficult. Highly accessible, encouraging, beautifully illustrated and eminently readable. A great guide that shows how, with a little preparation, beautiful native orchids can be grown by anyone, in a range of garden settings, helping to conserve species under threat in the wild. A beautifully produced book with charming illustrations and images of our native orchids. It is sure to encourage more gardeners to propagate these threatened plants We don’t usually consider orchids as garden plants, but perhaps we should. With historical notes on orchid collection and decline, a discussion of orchid biology and neat descriptions of the species and their suitability for cultivation, this fascinating book makes the idea of filling the garden with unexpected and beautiful orchids seem eminently achievable. Every page a delight, easy to read and beautifully illustrated with photographs, paintings and drawings. Designed to be 'dipped into' for information and practical advice or just become enthralled with our exquisite native orchids.