Home & Garden Highlight: Orchids

Written by Rebekah Gonzalez

Orchids are often gifted to people because of their beauty and elegance, but they are notoriously difficult to cultivate if they are not properly cared for.

Whether you are a novice grower wanting to learn the basics or an expert grower wishing to expand your collection, here is a list of recommended readings that will make your love for orchids bloom.

Recommended Reading

Happy Orchid, book cover

Happy Orchid by Sara Rittershausen

Happy Orchid dispels the myths around how to care for orchids, starting with a simple, step-by-step introduction that demonstrates all the essential growing techniques, including how to plant, what feed to give them - orchids are fussy eaters! - and how to water and maintain humidity. Discover more than 120 illustrated profiles of the most desirable orchids to grow: graceful Phalaenopsis, delicate Dendrobium, spectacular Cymbidium and many more varieties. Each profiled orchid lets you know exactly what they need for optimum growth, including where best to place them, how often they need repotting, how to prolong flowering and encourage reflowering.



Orchids for Every Home, book cover

Orchids for Every Home by Wilma Rittershausen

For orchid lovers of every ability, this guide features everything one needs to know about selecting and caring for over 120 varieties of orchids. 250+ photos & illustrations.



Growing Orchids at Home, book cover

Growing Orchids at Home by Dr. Manos Kanellos

An authoritative and detailed guide to caring for orchids in the home - the result of experience, continuous experimentation and extensive research by expert authors. All common types of orchids are covered. This book communicates all the necessary information in a way which is easy to understand, with over 100 unique, purpose-taken pictures. It includes a section with answers to the most common questions, and a photographic guide to signs, diagnosis and treatment for bringing ailing orchids back to health. The only book you need when growing orchids at home.



 Growing Windowsill Orchids, book cover

Growing Windowsill Orchids by Philip Seaton

Many a budding gardener has been tempted by the elegant orchids peeking out of the floral sections of grocery stores or lined up at a nursery. But too often, new orchid owners are faced with a “now what?” moment once the plant is set up at home. Orchids have a reputation for being challenging to cultivate but in reality, their care isn’t difficult—it’s just different.

Growing Windowsill Orchids is an easy-to-follow, nontechnical guide to caring for these popular plants. This new edition is expanded to include updated information on how to choose the best plant, how to look after your orchid when it has finished flowering, and how to get it to flower again year after year.



The Orchid Whisperer, book cover

The Orchid Whisperer by Bruce Rogers

Orchids can bloom year after year. In this essential guide, Bruce Rogers, "The Orchid Whisperer," shares his expert tips from more than three decades of breeding and growing orchids. The book demystifies the growing process and features more than 100 lush color photographs of breathtaking plants. Best of all, it reveals professional secrets not found anywhere else for blooming, repotting, spotting hazards and pests, grooming, decorating, and much more. Perfect for beginners as well as orchid experts looking for new tricks, The Orchid Whisperer provides everything readers need to know to keep healthy orchids that will flower again and again!



Additional Reading

The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Orchids, book cover
The Book of Orchids, book cover
The Orchid Expert, book cover
Spectacular Orchids, book cover
 Growing Orchids Like A Pro, book cover
 Better Homes and Gardens Orchid Gardening, book cover
Deceptive Beauties, book cover
Bloom-again Orchids, book cover
The Practical Encyclopedia of Orchids, book cover
Growing Hardy Orchids, book cover