The Flower Garden: How to Grow Flowers from Seed

Beautiful pictures but the info is a bit confusing. I stopped reading about half away through because I was overwhelmed and confused. She doesn’t explain when things need to be planted very well. She also doesn’t tell you how each plant should be harvested/cut or stored to make it last longer as a cut flower. I’ve read Floret Farms Cut Flower Farm and Vegetables love Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler and they are both far better than this one.

So many books about gardening are about vegetables, so finding a book devoted to flowers with such lovely photographs was a true delight. If you want more information on growing flowers from seed or you just enjoy a beautiful book devoted to flowers you will love this book.

Great book!

For the first time in my life, I have the opportunity to have a garden so I grabbed this book when I saw it.The Flower Garden: How to Grow Flowers from Seed is truly a love letter to flowers. The eye candy in this book makes it even appealing to those who are not growing a garden. There are beautiful full page photos of flowers throughout the book as well as smaller photos of the different varieties available for each flower. Everything you need to know about growing flowers from seeds is in this book and it will be my sole guide to creating my first garden ever. I particularly appreciate that Foster points out the easiest flowers to grow for a newbie like me. In fact, there are many easy to grow flowers that I have never heard of before.Foster divides the 56 different flowers covered in The Flower Garden into 7 sections:Cottage Garden Favorites - ex. Hollyhock, Snapdragon, Carnation, Polly, etc.Filigree Fillers - ex. Baby’s Breath, White Lace, Switchgrass, etc.Bold and Beautiful - ex. Pot Marigold, Cosmos, Sunflowers, Zinnia, etc.Sweetly Scented - ex. Sweet Pea, Stocks, Sweet Rocket, etc. Exotic Beauties - ex. Dahila, Morning Glory, Cup and Saucer, etc. Bee-Friendly Flowers - Corncockle, Cornflower, Sage, etc.For each flower, Foster discusses the varieties and sowing/growing.Part Two of the book delves more into general sowing and growing of flowers. First, she discusses Hardy Annuals, Half-Hardy Annuals, Biennials and Hardy Perennials, explaining which ones can survive frost in the winter and when to begin to sow them. Next is sowing under cover with a comprehensive presentation of the different strategies and steps and then a how-to for sowing direct. This part of the book ends with a section on pests and diseases.Finally, in Part Three - How to Use Your Flowers, Foster recommends where to plant, complete with gorgeous photos — for example, annuals and biennials in borders, making a cutting garden and container planting, etc. plus arranging your flowers.With The Flower Garden, I feel less like a complete newbie and more like a professional. I now know what to grow, where to grow it, how to start from seed, and when to expect flowers. I can’t wait to get started!Thank you to Laurence King Publishing and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I do a great deal of gardening and must admit that I requested this title at Netgalley expecting a sort of refresher course in seeding and new annuals and perennials to add to my already pretty flower beds. Clare Foster has much more to offer, even to an old gardener. Not only are the pictures by Sabina Rüber spectacular, but there are also many suggested plantings I hadn't thought of in years and I will be much more comfortable tackling my seedlings than in the past both in the flower beds, herb garden, and the vegetable garden.Our problem here is heat. We do have a few odd days of winter in Alamogordo, New Mexico, though for the most part, we visit winter in the Sacramento and Sierra Blanca mountains just up the road. But our summer comes on hot and windy and dry with the odd night of freezing tossed in for good measure, so seedlings are vulnerable at every stage until you get them hardened off and in the ground. I am much more confident that I will handle that better, this year. And I better get off the computer and out to my seedling tables... Thanks!I received a free electronic copy of this self-help book from Netgalley, Clare Foster and Sabina Rüber, and Laurence King Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

Love everything about this book, especially the photos which are exceptional. Love the suggestions of what to grow. Really good to be inspired by the photos to try unusual varieties of flowers I would probably never have grown. Recommended for anyone wanting to fill their garden with colour.

Absolutely love this book. It's not always about the general flower but the specific variety of flower that's best to grow from seed, this book covers specifics, with great colour photos. Full of useful information.

Such beautiful photography but more importantly such helpful practical advice on how to grow gorgeous flowers

New to growing from seed this year and wasn’t familiar with terminology etc. This book is brilliant and explains everything in detail but not at a long, boring lengthy read. Now when I buy seeds I always refer to this book rather than the instructions on the packet. I would definitely recommend it.

A beautiful book - has given me lots of ideas for growing flowers on my allotment to pick and bring home - full of glorious pics