Growing Flowers: Everything You Need to Know About Planting, Tending, Harvesting and Arranging Beautiful Blooms

by Niki Irving

“Anyone wanting to get started with a flower garden will find plenty of expert guidance here.” ― Publishers Weekly #1 Best Seller in Annual Flowers Gardening, Bulb Flower Gardening, and Perennial Gardening Master the art of cultivating cut flowers, from seed to stunning arrangements, with this indispensable guide for gardening novices and pros alike. Create botanical beauty. Niki Irving’s Growing Flowers whisks you away to the serene mountains of Asheville, NC, where her boutique flower farm thrives. Learn to grow florets and cut flowers with the same sustainable, natural practices Niki employs on her mountain-fresh farm. Boost your horticultural skills. This garden journal not only introduces you to the pleasures of growing a cutting garden but also guides you to arrange your flowers into simple-yet-gorgeous bouquets. Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of flower farming and discover techniques using not just blooms and greenery, but even artichokes, vines, and berries. Inside, you'll Growing Flowers  is a wonderful addition to any collection of garden books. If you’re looking for gardening gifts for gardeners or enjoy flowering plant books and flower books like  Floret Farms Cut Flower Garden book ,  Floret Farm's A Year in Flowers , or  The Flower Gardener's Bible , you’ll love Niki Irving's  Growing Flowers .

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Adult

156 pages, Hardcover

Published May 11, 2021

Reviews

[Mattie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live somewhat close to Flourish Flower Farm, so I got this book because her timeline and successful flowers would be close to mine. I love how to book takes me through a year of growing and preparing beds. I’ve got sticky notes and margin scribbles all over this book, and I look forward to trying to do it all right come spring.

On just a design note, I’m really impressed with how this book is put together. It’s been cleanly edited, and the layout is beautiful. It’s a nice book just to have (minus my sticky notes). Kudos to Yellow Pear Press!

[Jose Vazquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niki has created a succinct and beautifully photographed book for flower growers. I really appreciate the emotional support it takes to deadhead flowers so they can multiply in the future. Tactics like how to remove weeds and pinch flowers properly is also super helpful (it would have been great to see step-by-step visuals for pinching and deadheading). The section on garden pests was also helpful- I'll be using ladybugs to remove those pesky aphids this Spring. I recommend buying this book as I'll probably keep referencing it throughout the growing season.

[Kasey Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Super helpful for a beginner at cut flower gardening! I grew some cut flowers last garden season, but this helped me learn quite a few tips I hadn’t learned before. Glad I found this at my library!

[Sam Driscoll]

A good read if you are seriously a beginner and know nothing about flowers. Having read a lot of other books and having experience, this was a bit too basic for me and I returned it. It would be good for someone that has zero experience as it doesn’t go into much detail. If you want more detail I would recommend Floret’s books.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great! Super helpful but falls short on specifics for the different varieties of flowers. Highly recommend reading this book alongside floret farms cut flower garden book. They fill in the gaps for each other. Where seed starting and fertilizing aren’t well enough covered in flower farms book niki irving covers those in this book. And floret farms covers specific needs of the different varieties of zinnias cosmos etc. etc. these books together are my new references for my novice gardening! The only thing missing from the two is specific varieties tend to like different soils and fertilizers etc so that you’ll have to find elsewhere. But this book was super helpful in filling the gaps of knowledge for a beginner! I will be using a lot of this information!

[Karen Mahtin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very basic introduction to growing flowers outdoors, and making flower arrangements, aka bouquets. This could be a good introduction, and things that are written in the soil and compost sections should be taken with a grain of salt (I'd recommend reading about them in another book).

The section about arranging flowers was similar to those in other books, and may be the most valuable information in this one.

[Sheron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Book

Growing Flowers: Everything You Need to Know About Planting, Tending, Harvesting and Arranging Beautiful Flowers by Niki Irving really covers what you need to know to start a successful flower garden. This book lays out a plan from start to the end of the season. I really enjoyed this book and will refer to it as I plant my garden each year.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The photos in this book are so beautiful! Unfortunately the book itself wasn't exactly what I was looking for. It's more of a basic guide for growing large quantities of cut flowers, instead of just information about a personal flower bed. How to decide what to plant, details on certain kinds of flowers, how to plan a flower bed, etc... that's what I was hoping for.

[Meriwynn Mansori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy, practical and straightforward tips to plan and grow a flower garden. I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants with flower gardening over the past couple of years and I came away from this read with lots of new ideas. I also have created a short list of things to do to prep my garden more effectively for spring.

[Samantha Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely stunning!!! The information inside is incredibly detailed and all very interesting, however it’s a little bit more intense than I would have expected for home flower garden book to be. Who knew so much work went into growing beautiful flowers!

[Brittany Sprague · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic yet thorough overview for a truly new beginner. A great first flower farm boom.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the detailed, helpful information.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good book to have.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for beginners

[Susan Eubank]

I'll put the stars and words later.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Beautiful pictures but the material itself was nothing new.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick primer. Getting me excited for spring!

[Danielle Shuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good basic information on flower growing. A good starting point.

[Anna Ibbotson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of fabulous advice

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few gardening books I have read cover to cover! Would appeal to a brand new gardeners, but I’ve been growing flowers for years and still learned a lot of helpful tips.

[Julie Davids · Rating 5 out of 5]

A

[Meghan Coltrane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for beginners or people who are thinking about starting a flower farm. You will definitely want to keep it for reference.