Forcing, Etc.: The Indoor Gardener's Guide to Bringing Bulbs, Branches & Houseplants into Bloom

Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780761129707
ISBN: 0761129707
Label: Workman Publishing Company
Languages:EnglishUnknownEnglishOriginal LanguageEnglishPublished
Manufacturer: Workman Publishing Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: October 21, 2003
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Studio: Workman Publishing Company

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Now in paperback, Forcing, etc, with 60,000 copies in print, is the well-received guide to indoor, through-the-winter gardening: As beautiful as it is instructive, writes Michael Pollan. Town & Country calls it: Inspiration for lightening up the bleak days of winter . . . Forcing, etc will open up a whole new world beyond paper-whites. After perusing Forcing, etc, even those with the blackest of thumbs will want to try forcing bulbs and spring branches into bloom on a winter windowsill.-Rebecca's Garden.

Written by award-winning author Katherine Whiteside, here is the complete guide to indoor gardening, filled with 125 exquisite full-color photographs. Covering pre-chilling to potting up, putting away and water-forcing, Forcing, etc combines hands-on how-to with an artist's passion for detail to show how to grow and/or force dozens of common and exotic plants: hardy bulbs-crocus, narcissus, muscari, and iris; tender bulbs-oxalis, calla lily, clivia; branches-from apple and apricot to forsythia, moosewood, and quince; and tender plants-fuchsia, coleus, clematis, and scented geraniums. In addition, the author focuses on presentation and display, choosing unexpected containers, and orchestrating an indoor garden for balance of bloom and color.

Amazon.com Review:
What's a dyed-in-the-wool gardener to do when faced with stubborn Old Man Winter's downright refusal to let much of anything grow? Force it, that's what. Forcing is the art of convincing a bulb, branch, houseplant, or cutting to flower when it would otherwise be dormant. So when the drabness of winter and its attendant exorbitant price for cut flowers hits you, try forcing.

It's not difficult, but it does take some planning and foresight. If you want to force bulbs to flower in February, for instance, you have to order them in late summer so that you can pot them up in the fall. Twigs, on the other hand, are much easier to force: just cut them after six weeks of cold weather, put them in some water, and watch the virtual spring of your warm rooms transform them into leggy, flowering spirea, corylopsis, forsythia, or catkins, for instance. Author Katherine Whiteside explores associated topics such as choosing the best container and presentation within the home, as well as topics only an expert could love ("the narcissus question").

Forcing, Etc. is a good read. It's not a reference book in the truest sense of the word; the lack of an index is at fault there. This doesn't mean that there's not an awful lot of good information here for beginners and adepts, well and entertainingly written. But when you want to check on the fertilizer ratio for your calla lilies, you'll have to page through the entire book to find it (in a very small typeface, too). But with Richard Felber's gorgeous photos on every page, maybe that's not such a bad thing to have to do. --Stefanie Durbin

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