Acre-for-acre, flowers are the most profitable--as well as the most beautiful--crop on the farm. In "The Flower Farmer" expert flower grower Lynn Byczynski provides a complete introduction to raising a cornucopia of cut flowers for home use and for sale to retail customers, florists, and other markets.
The book offers detailed, manageable plans for flower growing on a scale ranging from a backyard border to a half-acre commercial garden. It will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, including:
Home gardeners who want growing tips from professionals, so that they can enjoy an abundance of flowers year-round in fresh and dried bouquets
Passionate gardeners and small-scale growers who want to raise and sell cut flowers in season for additional income
Small commercial farmers who want to increase farm revenue or even make a living from selling field-grown, specialty cut flowers.
"The Flower Farmer" provides a clear, realistic look at both the benefits and the challenges of growing flowers organically for local markets. Chapters include information on:
The best varieties of cut flowers--an A-Z list of more than one hundred recommended annuals and perennials, spotlighting the cultivars that are grown by professional flower farmers
How to cut, store, and preserve flowers for long-lasting beauty
How to dry flowers for crafting or for a dried-flower business
Flower-arranging basics from a designer's perspective
Extending the season with woody shrubs and trees
Marketing options for commercial growers, including sales at farmer's markets, supermarkets, florists, and wholesalers.
Sprinkled throughout are profiles of successful flower farmers--from Vermontto California, Texas to Wisconsin--each of them providing a unique perspective proving that growing flowers can be as profitable as it is satisfying.

This book is a celebration of cyclamen, a genus of only 23 species popular amongst gardeners, growers, botanists and enthusiasts alike. Native to parts of Europe, western Asia and parts of North Africa; cyclamen are also highly cultivated plants. Genus Cyclamen covers the botany of all taxa, including taxonomic description, flowering period, distribution and habitat based on scientific studies and fieldwork by cyclamen experts. Information is provided on cyclamen cultivation and propagation, with dedicated sections on cultivation in North America, Japan and Australasia. Other chapters cover the history of cyclamen, including a review of its use in botanical art from 1st Century AD to present, cyclamen in literature, and the use of cyclamen in ceramics, pottery, glassware, stamps, jewellery and postcards.

Why do gardeners start plants from seed instead of just buying a flat of seedlings from their local nursery? Necessity. Seedlings of unusual or exotic plants simply aren't available at garden stores, but they are available in seed. Then there's the cost factor. A few packets of seeds are much cheaper than dozens upon dozens of seedlings. And finally there's the plants' health to consider. Plants grown from seed get a healthy start that can almost guarantee you a magnificent display in your garden. The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom will teach you everything you need to know to germinate and grow more than 500 types of flowering plants. For every plant listed you'll find precise information on whether it will do well in your part of the country; how to sow seeds indoors and outdoors; when to transplant indoor seedlings out in the garden; what light, soil, and spacing requirements are necessary; general plant care; when you can expect the plants to flower; how to encourage more blooms; and how to propagate your plants by cutting, division, layering, or detaching runners.
The book also features more than 500 full-color flower photographs. A quick-reference chart outlines bloom time, color, height, and site requirements for more than 1,000 species, making this book an indispensable reference for planning and planting fabulous gardens.