Product Description

Why do gardeners start plants from seed instead of just buying a flat of seedlings from their local nursery? Necessity. Seedlings of unusual or exotic plants simply aren't available at garden stores, but they are available in seed. Then there's the cost factor. A few packets of seeds are much cheaper than dozens upon dozens of seedlings. And finally there's the plants' health to consider. Plants grown from seed get a healthy start that can almost guarantee you a magnificent display in your garden. The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom will teach you everything you need to know to germinate and grow more than 500 types of flowering plants. For every plant listed you'll find precise information on whether it will do well in your part of the country; how to sow seeds indoors and outdoors; when to transplant indoor seedlings out in the garden; what light, soil, and spacing requirements are necessary; general plant care; when you can expect the plants to flower; how to encourage more blooms; and how to propagate your plants by cutting, division, layering, or detaching runners.

The book also features more than 500 full-color flower photographs. A quick-reference chart outlines bloom time, color, height, and site requirements for more than 1,000 species, making this book an indispensable reference for planning and planting fabulous gardens.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71294 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

From Booklist
Powell's book is a guide to growing 542 annuals, perennials, and bulbs. Each entry has information on the plant's botanic name, common name, description (appearance, size, color, and best use in the garden), zones in which the genus can be grown, flowering season, sowing, germination, transplanting, care, propagation, and the best combination of flowers. The guide also contains a photo gallery of all the plants and a planning chart for selecting 1,487 species by height, color, and bloom time. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“This book is a flower lover’s guide to growing 542 of the most popular annuals, perennials and bulbs.” – Flowers & Herbs

“Powell's book is a guide to growing 542 annuals, perennials, and bulbs. Each entry has information on the plant's botanic name, common name, description (appearance, size, color, and best use in the garden), zones in which the genus can be grown, flowering season, sowing, germination, transplanting, care, propagation, and the best combination of flowers. The guide also contains a photo gallery of all the plants and a planning chart for selecting 1,487 species by height, color, and bloom time.”

Booklist

About the Author
Eileen Powell is the proprietor of Secret Gardens Landscaping, a small business that specializes in the design, implementation and maintenance of small gardens. She is involved in all areas of the business, including landscape design, manual labor and customer relations. Her goal involves helping the client develop his or her own garden--keeping personal style in mind--and then working to make that dream garden blossom. Her knowledge and experience adds a great deal of insight to her book, From Seed to Bloom, a one-step guide to growing over 500 annuals, perennials, and herbs. Eileen has a certificate in landscape design from George Washington University. She resides in Arlington, Virginia.

Customer Reviews

A "must have" for every gardener's library
Eileen Powell's book is my gardening bible. It's extremely comprehensive in covering all aspects from growing the over 500 different plants from seed. Not a "seed grower"? ... no problem - the detail on care, growing conditions, water, soil, pests, etc. is why this book is my number one garden library resource. I highly recommend it - and it won't ever go out of date!

Follow the directions and get results
Eileen Powell's The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom provides detailed information on germination, growing and care in a format that is easy to read. She also provides the growing zone in large print, so you can quickly skip the plants that will not grow in your area. The information useful for planning a garden is in a separate section from the care of each plant. This allows the planning information to be organized into tables that allow the reader to easily choose plants for time of bloom, height, color, light and soil requirements. She also lists the hardiness and heat zones in the planning tables.

I only wish I could find a similar book for unusual vegetables and herbs.

Really and truly useful
When a friend recently asked me to suggest a book that would tell her the soil preferences of different flowers, I knew exactly what she needed. The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom has all the answers. In addition to concise profiles of 500 bloomers, there's a handy gallery of color photographs and my favorite section, a 50-page chart that lists major and minor species along with their bloom times, colors, and cultural requirements. This book is designed to be useful, and it is!