Orchids are among the special and unique flowering plants. They have a certain uncommon but pleasant appearance along with a soft and sweet scent.
These flowering plants make lovely indoor and outdoor garden greens. There are various species of orchids available in different colors, sizes, shapes, foliage, growth patterns, etc. There are approximately 25,000 varieties of Orchid plants and all of these have their own unique and appealing features.
Growing an orchid plant is though not a hard job, but certainly requires the right kind of knowledge so that the plants can be provided all its requirements efficiently for good growth.
A guide or a book that mentions all about these necessities can be of immense help to cater to the plant’s healthy development as well as your domain of knowledge about orchids. We have brought here for you 30 best go-to books when you want to know about orchids and their care and growing.
Table of Contents
List of 30 best books for growing your orchid plants:
HAPPY ORCHID by Sara Rittershausen
Sara Rittershausen brings to you, her secrets and tips of growing and caring for our orchids. This book is for all the new orchid plant owners. It includes more information and details about more than 125 species of garden orchids.
Sara brings forth all the necessary care elements, like the placement of the potted orchid, how to make it flower, watering and fertilizing, repotting the plant, helping it to bloom again after its dormancy period, etc.
It contains all the secrets to a good bloom and clears various myths and questions about planting and growing orchids. This book also has a 4.62-star rating and positive reviews about essential content with correct information.
ORCHID MODERN by Marc Hachadourian
Marc Hachadourian’s 2019 book named – ‘Orchid Modern: Living and Designing with the World’s Most Elegant Houseplants’ is one of the high-rated orchid books with over a thousand copies sold already.
He reveals secrets to growing these sometimes hard-to-maintain plants and mentions his favorite orchid picks for both garden enthusiasts and not so green-thumbed individuals. He also includes step-by-step guided projects to successfully grow orchids at home.
THE ORCHID WHISPERER by Bruce Rogers
The Orchid Whisperer – Expert secrets for growing beautiful orchids is an informative guide penned by expert gardener Bruce Rogers.
He is a well-experienced man at growing orchids and shares with other orchid lovers about the hidden secrets of an orchid blooming, repotting, decorating, keeping away pests and diseases, and so on.
It holds important information related to the flowering of orchids year after year. If you are a beginner at the orchid endeavor or an experienced gardener, it is a great book to add to your knowledge of tending to orchids. With an over 4-star review, this book is a great one to refer to in 2020.
GROWING ORCHIDS IS FUN by Better-Gro
Better-Gro knows about their orchids and grows them efficiently. They bring to their reader a guide on growing orchids and simple facts about it.
The American Orchid Society assists this book which caters to several elements of growing, watering, flowering, lighting, and fertilizing of orchids.
It also mentions ways to prevent pests and diseases in these plants. It is for beginners as well as hobbyists and represents all the information in great detail with illustrations.
ORCHID GROWERS NOTEBOOK by Settimo Emiliana
This is a journaling notebook that helps you keep track of your growing orchid plants.
It is easy to record, a grid-type journal where you can note your daily, weekly, monthly progress of orchid growing and pen down your success, watering schedules, blooming times, etc.
This is one among the craft and hobby books specially categorized for orchid gardening.
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS ORCHID GARDENING by Ellen Zachos
The first edition of Better Homes and Gardens featuring Orchid gardening is a complete book of guidance for planting, planting, maintaining, and growing a better orchid garden at home.
If you are brand new to the orchid gardeners family, this book will instruct you to carry it out correctly in the very first grow.
This book contains a glossary of orchid species, tips for choosing an orchid plant based on your climate and location, interior décor idea, illustrations, and many more. All in all, it is an easy-to-use book and a comprehensive study on orchids.
UNDERSTANDING ORCHIDS by William Cullina
‘Understanding orchids: An uncomplicated guide to growing the world’s most exotic plants’ is among the most popular guide books for orchid growing.
This book talks about the plenty of available orchid species in which one can grow according to their housing location and other environmental factors.
Cullina’s book helps you chose your ideal orchid and also guides how to keep the plant growing and healthy. It also mentions various facts and other orchid related updates. This is one of the best-known orchid books out there.
THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ORCHIDS by Isobyl Ia Croix
This is an encyclopedia that holds detailed information, researches, and facts about 1500 orchid varieties. Croix is a horticulturist, scientist, and orchid lover whose passion for these flowers is represented through this detailed and descriptively illustrious orchid encyclopedia.
She also mentions the growing habitat, climatic conditions, geography, etc. relating to the growth of orchids. This is a full-detailed, up-to-date, and in-depth issue for orchids.
ORCHID by Jim Endersby
Jim Endersby is a senior lecturer who wrote an extensively informative and a newly observed domain about Orchids, in his book – ‘Orchid – A cultural history’.
He tells about the deeper meaning of orchids and opens up a literary, exotic, mysterious, and sophisticated history of these plants. This is a 4-star reviewed book with recommended reading.
THE BOOK OF ORCHIDS by Mark W. Chase, Tom Mirenda, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz
With approximately 500 copies sold, this 2017 book reveals the mysteries of this huge variety of flora. This book displays and describes the world’s six hundred most variedly intimidating orchid plants.
The authors are expert researchers, orchid enthusiasts, and well-skilled writers. They provide information about the flowering periods, growth patterns, essential requirements, etc.
Their share of knowledge about the different colors, shapes, sizes, etc. found in orchids brings to the readers a very interesting outlook on the orchid family.
ORCHIDS An illustrated guide to varieties, cultivation, and care, with step-by-step instructions and over 150 stunning photographs, by Andrew Mikolajski
This is another easy-to-use and handy guide that is very assisting when it comes to planting orchids and taking care of these houseplants.
It comes with descriptive illustrations and essential knowledge. It is among the best books for beginner orchid gardeners as it provides varieties of visuals and basic required information to initiate an orchid garden. It is an inexpensive and perfect book for new orchid owners.
COMPLETE GUIDE TO ORCHIDS by Ortho
This 2005 book is still among the well-researched orchid guides. It provides information on different varieties of orchids, hybrid types, and easy-to-grow ones.
The data from this book is useful to both amateur and professional orchid gardeners and contains advice about the lighting, temperature, potting, moisture needs, pests, and disease, flowering in orchids.
ORCHIDS by Mike Tibbs
Mike Tibbs advises and opens up to the readers about several tips and tricks about growing orchids along with common mistakes and how to prevent them.
This book provides in-depth details about the huge world of orchids with over 25,000 species with diverse features. Tibbs talks about the ways to grow orchids in different settings and also covers major orchid types, helping you to choose your ideal plant. It also informs the readers about how to keep their plants away from pests and diseases.
ORCHIDS FOR DUMMIES by Steven A. Frownie
Steven A. Frownie from the National Garden Institution has been rewarded with a 4.39-star review for his Orchids for dummies book which contains full 8 pages of colored visuals of orchids.
He is an orchid enthusiast and simplifies the growing procedures into this step-by-step instructional guide. He teaches how to grow, care for, and propagate your healthy orchids.
HOW TO GROW ORCHIDS, A beginner’s guide to growing orchids. By Fran Barnwell
This book is to help you change your mind about orchids being a difficult garden plant. This guide provides you with every detail which you would require to get started.
It informs you about the basic light, food, temperature, and water requirements to make your orchids grow well and appear fresh and healthy. It also covers topics like re-potting, propagating, fertilizing, and keeping away pests and insects.
BLOOM – AGAIN ORCHIDS by Judywhite
Judywhite authored the book – Bloom- again orchids – 50 easy-care orchids that flower again and again and again. This book talks about the easiest home-growing orchid varieties and the tips to keep them flowering season after season.
It brings out a variety of 50 most affordable and easy-care species to suiting your garden tastes. This book makes the already beautiful orchids more appealing and feasible.
SPECTACULAR ORCHIDS by Gene Ashburner
This is a book mainly for a beginner to maintain a healthy and lively orchid in their garden. It is a great guide for novices in the orchid growing family, but it familiarizes you with the necessary information which can be used in the long run.
FIELD GUIDE TO THE ORCHIDS OF EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN by Rolf Kuehn, Philip Cribb, Henrik Pedersen
This 2019 book is a detailed manual about the orchid species growing in Europe and the Mediterranean.
The researches have made use of their knowledge and findings to pen this up-to-date book about various species of this region, including Orchis, Cypripedium, Epipactis, 70 hybrid species, etc.
It mentions the diverse features of these orchids and includes pictures to help the readers identify these species.
YOUR FIRST ORCHID by Louise Harvey
As the name suggests, this is a beginner-friendly guide to help you out with understanding your orchids and efficiently growing and caring for them.
This is a very cheap investment but surely a handy one as growing orchids in the initial stage can be tough. It mentions the easiest varieties of orchids that you can choose along with their care routines for proper growth and blooming.
- EASY ORCHIDS by Liz Johnson
Liz Johnson’s guide is a fail-proof technique to grow orchids at home. This cheap and handy book consists of an A-Z directory of flora, details of cultivation systems, ways to easily and optimally grow orchids with the right levels of light, humidity, fertilizing, etc. With her easy-care guide, anyone can assurance a blooming orchid plant in their house.
- BOTANICA’S ORCHIDS – ENCYCLOPEDIA
This is an encyclopedia that mentions around 1,200 varieties of orchids with detailed descriptions and attractive visuals. Besides, it also categorizes easy-to-grow orchids along with their feeding and watering requirements.
This alphabetically listed orchid dictionary is rather a big book where you will find some intimidating information.
FOUR SEASONS OF ORCHIDS by Greg Allikas, Ned Nash
Among the many varieties of orchid books found, this is a slightly different one. This book lists several orchids not alphabetically but seasonally.
It mentions species of orchids that grow in different growing seasons and thus you can choose varied orchids and can plan the year-round blooming of flowers. It also has details about care tips with images.
MINIATURE ORCHIDS AND HOW TO GROW THEM by Rebecca Tyson Northern
Rebecca Tyson is a biologist and an orchid lover. She makes use of her experience and knowledge in growing orchids to bring out the various petite species of orchids.
Miniature orchids are equally beautiful and attractive as houseplants. This guide provides a detailed how-to for smaller orchid species.
THE CATTLEYAS AND THEIR RELATIVES by Carl L. Withner
This is a series of 6 books written by passionate orchid grower – Carl L, Withner. He writes extensively about the Cattleya species of orchids along with its hybrid varieties.
This book is all about the ‘queen of the orchids’ and has a history, detailed pictures, discovery information, and growing tips. It is both for beginners and pros.
- MOTH ORCHID MASTERY by Raffaele Di Lallo
This is a kindle book edition and focuses on the planting and care for moth orchids. It is a useful one as it gives you an idea of where you can purchase your first orchid, light needs, watering, etc.
It also gives the readers to surf the author’s researches online through the mentioned links and can also contact the author with the mentioned information mentioned in the book for personal interaction.
GROWING ORCHIDS LIKE A PRO by Joan E Hixon
This is another kindle e-book with the best guidance on growing orchids indoors and outdoors efficiently so that they bloom up to many years.
She aims at telling her readers that growing orchids is rather a unique process than a challenging one. She reveals various secrets from orchid experts, details on proper growing medium and needs, tips on dos and don’ts, etc.
- CONSERVATION METHODS FOR TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS by Nigel Swarts and Kingsley Dixon
Terrestrial orchids are nowadays among the threatened variety of flora. This book brings to light the methods of conserving these endangered orchids.
This book talks in detail about various terrestrial orchids and mentions systems to preserve and grow more of these unique plants.
ORCHID FEVER by Eric Hansen
This book is a rather interesting one as it talks about various amazing tales of orchids all over the world. The book has stories about orchid ice-creams of Turkey, Orchid smuggling, large and dangerous orchid species, killer-orchids, etc. This book is full of bizarre and appealing stories for people with a passion for orchids.
THE ORCHID SPECIALIST by David Squire
David Squire brings to orchid enthusiasts a series of books that talk about essentially growing, choosing, improving, maintaining, and decorating orchid flowering plants.
This small and reasonably priced book is a great read for growing orchids at home as it covers all the necessary details.
GARDENING UNDER LIGHTS by Leslie F. Halleck
This is a complete book for growing various indoor plants and contains the basic information and scientific knowledge that comes handy in growing indoor plants. Available in parts, it also mentions maintenance and growth tips for indoor ornamental plants such as orchids, bonsai, succulents, etc. This is a great guide book for beginners looking for assistance in growing indoor plants.
Hi there! My name is Constance and I am a professional botanist. My enthusiasm for organic farming has led me to start this blog about gardening for beginners!
I write articles and tips on improving your home and garden with less work. I also share my own advice from the perspective of someone who loves all things green – like how to grow vegetables in containers or how to make compost out of kitchen scraps.