Growing Flowers: Everything You Need to Know About Planting, Tending, Harvesting and Arranging Beautiful Blooms (Flower Gardening, Beautiful Flowers to Plant)

by Niki Irving

Overview

Step Inside the House of Flowers

In the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, Niki Irving’s boutique flower farm grows specially cut, mountain-fresh flowers with sustainable, natural practices. Now, she brings her organic gardening techniques to your home, helping you grow, harvest, and arrange lush, seasonally-inspired flowers.

Turn your flowers from doomed to bloomed. Unlike old-school gardening books, Irving’s beautifully photographed gardening basics book features fun, simple, and engaging know-how enabling you to grow, harvest, and arrange a cutting garden of flowers. An instructional guide to gardening for beginners and those looking to hone their budding botanical skills, Growing Flowers teaches everything from caring for a cut flower garden to making simple-yet-gorgeous flower arrangements and botanical bouquets.

An indispensable gardening guide for homebody horticulturists and floral foragers. A flower book with a whimsical twist, Growing Flowers is a go-to reference for those new to herb and flower gardening. Working with Niki, you’ll learn flower arranging techniques using blooms, greenery, and other unexpected elements such as artichokes, vines and berries. In her signature hands-on and homemade style, curious gardeners will learn about tools of the trade, getting down and dirty with dirt, seasonal rotation, starting from seeds and/or seedlings, and more. Inside, you’ll find the confidence to grow your own herbs and flowers as well as:

• Explanations of soil types and necessary soil preparations
• A list of seasonal flowers such as peonies or garden roses for the spring and sunflowers and dahlias for the summer and fall
• Basic knowledge to create flower bouquets that include home-garden staples like sprigs of greenery and even attractive weeds

Growing Flowers is a wonderful addition to any collection of garden books. If you’re looking for gardening gifts for gardeners or enjoy plant books and flower books like Floret Farms Cut Flower Garden book, Floret Farms A Year in Flowers, or The Flower Gardener's Bible, then you’ll want to own Growing Flowers.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642505504
Publisher:	Key Lime Publishing
Publication date:	05/11/2021
Series:	Growing Flowers
Pages:	156
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Niki Irving is a co-owner of Flourish Flower Farm. After years of working in education and outdoor education, she finally turned the dream of becoming a Farmer-Florist into reality. As the daughter of a landscaper and tree farmer, you could say that her love of plants was inevitable. Niki loves growing, nurturing and creating beauty. She currently resides in Asheville, North Carolina.

You can learn more about Flourish Flower Farm here: https://www.flourishflowerfarm.com/

Table of Contents

Foreword Growing Flowers…for All Seasons 13

Introduction The Story of Flourish Flower Farm 17

How I Became a Flower Farmer 17

Flourishing 21

Chapter 1 Know Your Climate 25

About Hardiness Zones 26

Freezing Temperatures 29

Growing Climates 30

Chapter 2 Choosing and Preparing a Garden Plot 33

Growing Organically 33

Laying Out a Garden Plot 34

Soil Preparation 36

All About Soil 40

Adding Compost 43

Chapter 3 Planning What to Plant 47

Measuring Your Garden Plot 47

Crop Planning 52

Days to Maturity 54

Plant Hardiness 56

Repeat Bloomers and One-Stem Bloomers 59

Succession Planting 60

Planting for a Balanced Garden Bouquet 62

Ordering Seeds and Bulbs 63

Chapter 4 Seed Starting and Planting 67

Creating an Indoor Grow Station 68

Growing and Caring for Seedlings 70

Transplanting into the Garden 71

Planting Bulbs 73

Chapter 5 Tending the Garden 83

Weeding 83

Irrigation 89

Fertilizing 90

Plant Support 91

Pinching 92

Common Diseases Affecting Flowers 93

Beneficial Insects 95

Common Garden Pests 97

Chapter 6 Harvesting and Arranging Flowers 101

Harvesting 103

Deadheading 104

Arranging 105

Chapter 7 Putting the Garden to Bed 123

Garden Bed Cleanup 123

Composting 124

Cover Crops 127

Deep Dive: Digging Dahlia Tubers 130

Other Fall Garden Chores 131

Keep Growing Flowers 135

Tools 136

Resources 41

Acknowledgements 144

About the Author 146

Index 148

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Irving, founder of Flourish Farm, debuts with a winning guide to creating a flower garden. ‘My hope is that this book will save you a few errors of your own,’ she writes, and welcomes newbies by translating gardening jargon (defining such terms as ‘hardiness zone’ and, among other things, outlining the difference between annuals and perennials) and explaining how to choose an ideal garden spot based on ‘the path of the sun.’ Her advice follows a garden’s life cycle, from planning, planting, and tending to harvesting, and each chapter begins with a short list of requisite tools. A chapter on ‘Planning What to Plant,’ for example, lists measuring tape, flags, and a notebook, and involves learning what flowers thrive in one’s climate and keeping a journal to note dates of extreme weather and the number of days to germination. A section on harvesting features step-by-step flower arranging projects, while ‘Putting the Garden to Bed’ is a ‘bittersweet’ endeavor at the beginning of fall that involves removing support nets and stakes, as well as pulling up plants. Irving also covers such gardening basics as weeding (‘elbow grease’ is recommended over chemicals), irrigating, fertilizing, and composting. Anyone wanting to get started with a flower garden will find plenty of expert guidance here.”
—Publishers Weekly

“This is not your average how-to guide; the stunning array of photographs set the scene, making this book lovely to see as it is to read.”

—Seattle Book Review

“Growing Flowers by Niki Irving is the perfect book for anyone looking to grow beautiful, plentiful flowers. Irving is a farmer and florist for Flourish Flower Farm in Asheville, NC. She also makes floral arrangements for weddings and other events, so her advice is topnotch. Owing to the book’s gorgeous photography on every page, it can also be a great addition to a gardener’s coffee table—or anyone who wants a colorful book out on display in their home. Each page is extremely informative, but also a great flip-through if you just want to look at the images. This book provides any and all information you could need for starting your own flower garden. Irving provides all the basics first and foremost—growing climate, garden plots, soil, compost, and more.”
—Washington Gardener Magazine

“It is for anyone who wishes to grow flowers, whether by setting up a farm or simply establishing a micro garden. The tips and tools are all here in Niki Irving’s generously shared words and beautifully arranged pages—and so is the inspiration.”

—Splash Magazine

Editorial Reviews

Irving, founder of Flourish Farm, debuts with a winning guide to creating a flower garden. ‘My hope is that this book will save you a few errors of your own,’ she writes, and welcomes newbies by translating gardening jargon (defining such terms as ‘hardiness zone’ and, among other things, outlining the difference between annuals and perennials) and explaining how to choose an ideal garden spot based on ‘the path of the sun.’ Her advice follows a garden’s life cycle, from planning, planting, and tending to harvesting, and each chapter begins with a short list of requisite tools. A chapter on ‘Planning What to Plant,’ for example, lists measuring tape, flags, and a notebook, and involves learning what flowers thrive in one’s climate and keeping a journal to note dates of extreme weather and the number of days to germination. A section on harvesting features step—by—step flower arranging projects, while ‘Putting the Garden to Bed’ is a ‘bittersweet’ endeavor at the beginning of fall that involves removing support nets and stakes, as well as pulling up plants. Irving also covers such gardening basics as weeding (‘elbow grease’ is recommended over chemicals), irrigating, fertilizing, and composting. Anyone wanting to get started with a flower garden will find plenty of expert guidance here.”

—Publishers Weekly

“This is not your average how—to guide; the stunning array of photographs set the scene, making this book lovely to see as it is to read.”

—Seattle Book Review

“Growing Flowers by Niki Irving is the perfect book for anyone looking to grow beautiful, plentiful flowers. Irving is a farmer and florist for Flourish Flower Farm in Asheville, NC. She also makes floral arrangements for weddings and other events, so her advice is topnotch. Owing to the book’s gorgeous photography on every page, it can also be a great addition to a gardener’s coffee table—or anyone who wants a colorful book out on display in their home. Each page is extremely informative, but also a great flip—through if you just want to look at the images. This book provides any and all information you could need for starting your own flower garden. Irving provides all the basics first and foremost—growing climate, garden plots, soil, compost, and more.”

—Washington Gardener Magazine

“It is for anyone who wishes to grow flowers, whether by setting up a farm or simply establishing a micro garden. The tips and tools are all here in Niki Irving’s generously shared words and beautifully arranged pages—and so is the inspiration.”

—Splash Magazine

From the Publisher