Book review - new orchid reference
 

In the past I have not been a fan of AOS publications, which I have found to be shallow and lacking in the "whys" of the advice, which have tended to have a south Florida bias. I am happy to report that with their latest publication, "The AOS Guide to Orchids and their Culture" they finally got it right. (Authors Mary Gerritsen and Ron Parsons have produced a number of excellent books)

I just got my copy, and it is loaded with good information, including exceptions, reasoning behind the advice, discussion of nomenclature, the whole range of culture, guidelines for the blooming times of various plants, and lots of fantastic photographs. One of the things I like is discussion of its own limitations - advice to research further for the details that must be beyond the scope of a general reference. (It's a guide, not "holy writ" and along with the information it contains, it directs you to other resources) There are also culture notes on a bunch of specific orchids that can be used to build a "wish list". It can be purchased on the AOS website . I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the review, Roberta.

Just to update everyone, the AOS guide to orchids and their culture had completely sold out. But good news, a reprint was done, and the new books are now at the AOS. If you are interested the books can be ordered through the AOS website.

Thank you so much for sharing this! Very helpful!

I'm glad this thread came back up, I missed it the first time around! Sounds like an interesting book, I hope shipping costs to EU aren't more than the price of the book...

Tell me more about these south Florida biased books.... sounds right up my alley :biggrin:

Def checking this out

Aos book
 

Well, I can't speak to the mailing costs to the Eu, that is a post office issue not a book issue. However, in the USA, at book rate, the cost for mailing the book is under $3.
I did mail a few books to Australia, and it was about the cost of the book to mail.

If there is a big interest, maybe the more cost effective method is to arrange for the AOS to ship a box of books somewhere in the UK and to distribute the books from there. Sorry, I am not a part of that so you would need to work that out with the AOS.

I looked to order it from the AOS shop back when I posted, but shipping costs as much as the book. ($25) I decided to think about, waited too long, and now all shipping is suspended until further notice.

Camille, when restrictions are lifted (at some point...), I would definitely be interested in an EU group order! I too was looking at that publication before lockdown started... If there were more people interested we could split shipping costs between us all or something like that. Obviously not a priority at the moment but maybe in the future!

Good to know this is a worthwhile book, especially for a longtime grower like Roberta. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy.