Flower Gardener’s Handbook

GROW BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!

You can have a flower garden that is delightful to behold and easy to maintain with wisdom from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Whether you don’t know deadheading from dormancy or have bountiful flower beds, you’ll benefit from the timesaving tips, inspiring ideas, and proven techniques in this handbook.

Inside, you’ll find . . .

• Guidance on growing more than 30 flowering plants

• Perennials, biennials, annuals, and bulbs for any setting

• Native vs. non-native vs. naturalized plants

• Ideas for creating color-filled containers

• Plants and shrubs that birds and pollinators love

• Secrets to good soil: testing, texture, pH, and compost

• Seed-starting tips and best transplant times

• Effective pest and disease preventions and cures

• Fresh flower cutting and arrangement tips

• Best flowers to dry, with how-to techniques

• Helpful anecdotes from fellow gardeners

• Pages for recording your plants and observations

• Much, much more!

Created for enthusiasts of all experience levels (especially beginners), The Old Farmer’s Almanac Flower Gardener’s Handbook (companion to the Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook) promises that every garden—and gardener—will bloom!

Dimensions: 6¾" X 8¾" | 224 Pages | Full-color | Flexi Bound Softcover | Printed in the USA

Bulk pricing available for educators, click here to learn more.

 EDITOR'S NOTE 

Welcome, friends:

Thank you for your enthusiasm for flower gardening and for your interest in this book! Our intent in curating this collection is to provide guidance, inspiration, and entertainment along with timesaving tips, practical advice, and ideas to spark your imagination.

We had a range of folks in mind when developing the content: novice gardeners with germinating curiosity, budding growers who want to add color and variety to their yard or containers, and seasoned horticulturists whose cutting beds are the envy of the neighborhood.

Here you will all find help and solutions for planning and preparing pots and plots; choosing and maintaining plants—natives and non-; and enjoying the endless benefits of flowering plants and shrubs, from spectacular fresh or dried blooms to beneficial pollinators (calling all butterflies and hummingbirds!) to the beauty of birds seeking shelter and sustenance and bees spreading pollen and collecting nectar.

Dozens of plants are named on these pages, and 32 are profiled with specific details, such as their reputation in the plant world, tips on how to start them successfully and care for them to maturity (while thwarting pests and diseases!), and recommended varieties. For many, we also include fascinating facts about them in folklore and/or history.

Some plants in which you have an interest may not be included; in consultation with experienced gardeners, we chose these 32 because they are popular and common to most areas of the United States and/or Canada and have generated a great number of questions by visitors to Almanac.com. You’ll find many more flowering plants, with suggestions on how to use them, in the “Inspiration” section of this book.

Because this is an Old Farmer’s Almanac publication and we love to share our passion for plants and gardening, we have included flower lore, flower gardening quotes, and anecdotal tales from gardeners. We welcome stories about your flowers, too—your beauties, your deadheads, your floricultural unforgettables. Share them—and ask questions about other plants—at Almanac.com or
on our social media.

We believe that with this book, you’ll have a flowering future ahead. Now, let’s head to the garden!

–Janice Stillman