The GIANT Book on Growing Flowers

📖 The Scoop

 Table of Contents 

Introduction 
Choosing the Right Soil 
Soil Color and Fertility 
Humus 
Preparation of the Soil 
Best Time for Seed Sowing 
The Thinning Process 
Staking Your Annuals 
Why Mulch? 
Cultivation and Maintenance 
Watering your Plants 
List of Hardy annuals 
Half Hardy Annuals 
Annuals Suitable for Cutting Purposes – 
Annuals for autumn blooming – 
Half Hardy Annuals for Edging Your Border 
Knowing More about Biennials 
Sowing the seeds 
Preparing the Ground 
List of Popular Biennials 
Choosing the Plants 
Permanent Plants 
Bougainvillea 
Hibiscus 
Cannas 
Asters 
The Jasmine Family and Plumeria 
Lilies 
Sowing Time 
Summer Plants 
Chrysanthemums 
Winter Plants 
Sweetpeas 
Phlox 
Hollyhocks 
Sunflowers 
Gladiolus 
Perennial Plants 
Dianthus 
Cosmos 
Periwinkles- Vinca 
Petunias 
Useful Gardening Tips 
Appendix 
Propagation through Buds 
Preparing a bud 
Grafting 
Benefits 
Wedge Grafting 
Grafting Wax Solutions 
Grafting Wax 
Orchids 
Collecting Orchids 
Natural Conditions 
Division of Species 
Terrestrial orchids – 
Epiphytic Orchids – 
Cultivation of Orchids 
Cultivation of Orchids at High Altitudes 
Propagation of Orchids 
Blossoming Orchids 
Making an Orchid House 
Types of Popular Orchids Varieties 
Dendrobium 
Epidendrum 
Cattleya 
Bletia 
Vanda 
Phalaenopsis 
Vanilla 
Odontoglossum 
Cypripedium – Lady Slipper Orchid genus 
Appendix 
Why Re-Pot a Plant 
Roses 
How To Grow Roses 
Types and Varieties of Roses 
Preparation of the Soil 
Planting 
Why Stake Your Roses 
Organic Manure for Roses 
Pruning Your Roses 
First pruning 
Hard pruning. 
Subsequent Pruning – 
Other Types of Roses 
Ramblers 
Climbing HTs 
Rose Standards 
Weeping Standards 
Floribundas 
General Management of Rose Plants 
Disbudding Roses 
Rose Pests and Diseases 
Appendix 
How to Make Rose Water 
How to Make a Rose Potpourri 
Rhododendrons 
Knowing More about Azaleas 
Ghent Azaleas 
Cultivation of Rhododendrons 
Soil for Your Rhododendrons 
Shade and Shelter for Your Rhododendrons 
Effect of Wind and Sun 
So How Do You Get the Best Shade for Your Rhododendrons? 
Shade Plants to Avoid 
Best Sheltering Plants 
Pests and Diseases 
Rhododendron Types and Hybrids 
Flower Borders 
Planning a Border 
Preparing Your Border 
Lime Application 
Manuring 
General Cultivation Tips 
Planting of Shrubs 
List of Different Color Plants 
Multicolored Plants 
Borders of Just One Color 
Getting a Period Border 
Narrow Borders 
Aspect Borders 
General Herbaceous Borders 
Choosing the Right Background 
Staking and Supports 
Growing a Shrub Border 
Using Bulbs in Your Border 
Bulb Selection 
Planting Your Bulbs 
Border Bulbs – Hyacinth and Crocus 
Management of your Borders 
Traditional Control of Slugs 
Author Bio 
Publisher 

Introduction 

There are far too many people out there who are under the impression that you cannot have a beautiful garden without spending huge amounts of money. That is so not true. A little bit of planning and this fallacy is going to fall to pieces by the wayside. Those who are grown annuals for years are going to give this statement the lie gladly. 

Their initial investment must have been just a packet of seeds. The next year, the plants were grown from the seeds collected from the previous years’ crop. 

Do not forget that the life of an annual is limited to just 12 months and so you must not expect them to grow up and bloom again the next year, unless of course you allowed the seeds to lie in the bed without collecting them. That is when they are going to bloom up just like weeds with a little bit of rain, and with the coming of the spring. 

One of the great advantages of annuals is that they are quite easy to grow and flourish in your garden over a long period. The most common are well known to even amateur gardeners who can recognize a cornflower, nasturtiums, Virginia stock and Candytuft. These are very beautiful in themselves, but every gardener is growing them in his garden.

Genre: Gardening / Flowers / General (fancy, right?)