Burpee The Complete Flower Gardener: Guide to Growing Organically

Burpee's :"The Complete Flower Gardener, The Comprehensive Guide to Growing Flowers Organically" by Karan Davis Cutler and Barbara W. Ellis is an excellent book that guides the flower gardener to successful flower gardening.

The book covers everything from preparation of the soil to the selection of flowers. Everything about the garden, including garden design, landscape ideas, garden plants, seeds, and gardening terminology is discussed.

This easy to read guide is complete with pictures and descriptions of the different types of flowers. The description of the different plants explain what conditions different plants can be grown successfully in, when flowers bloom, what flowers work well together and much more.

The encyclopedic plant portraits section provides thorough profiles of more than 175 herbaceous flowers, including annuals, perennials and bulbs. They include directions for choosing cultivars, cultivating and propagating them.

The book starts out with a brief history of the love of flower gardens in America. According to the history, the first English immigrants to America stuffed seeds into their pockets, pouches and trunks to bring to the New World. The seeds that the immigrants brought with them were seeds for practical plants. Seeds for food and medicinal plants came along with the immigrant pilgrims.

A garden order shipped from England to America in 1631 included very few flower seeds. This practical approach didn't last long. Within three decades of the 1620 landing of the pilgrims, the pilgrims were growing scores of ornamental plants for their enjoyment. Ornamental plants and flowers such as bellflower's, candy tufts, Canterbury bells, daffodils, gladioli, hollyhocks, snapdragons and tulips filled the early gardens of the pilgrims.

The spiritual descendants of theses early pilgrim gardeners continue to be bewitched by the magic of flower gardening. The ever changing bliss of flowering plants have brought pleasure to gardeners and the people who enjoy their work for generations.