ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
A compilation of resources and books on flower cultivation, floral design, botany, organic/small scale/sustainable farming in general, and flowers as a whole (i.e. history, culture, economics, etc). Includes my thoughts on these reads and how they will help me going forward.
Armitage, Allan M. & Laushman, Judy M. Specialty Cut Flowers; The Production of Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Woody Plants for Fresh and Dried Cut Flowers, 2nd edit (Revised & Enlarged). Timber Press, 2008.
A great reference guide of many of the possible flowers and woodies to grow and how to propagate, harvest, and store. In terms of books for flower farmers, this is the bible. The breakdown crop by crop is really helpful with a ton of information on where and how each plant grows best as well as when in the season it blooms, when it is best to harvest, how to best store them, and how long they can stay stored for.
Bayton, Ross and Maughan, Simon. Plant Families; A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists. The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
This book provides a breakdown of each botanical family, going family by family looking at size, range, origins, flowers, fruit, leaves, and uses for the family. I really like this style of book because it lets me see where each comes from, how it best grows, and how to best identify members of that family. I will use this as a reference in the future for individual family needs.
Buchmann, Stephen. The Reason for Flowers; Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives. Scribner, 2015.
I really enjoyed the global, historic, and economic context given in this book to growing, enjoying, and designing flowers. From the history behind pleasure gardens to how to grow and consume flowers to today to how artists, poets, and creative have been influenced and inspired by flowers throughout the centuries, I found these accounts fascinating and important to understanding human’s relationship with and love for flowers. That being said, I really did not appreciate Part I: Sexuality & Origins’ icky anthropomorphization of plants and insects alike, with words like “virgin,” “orgy,” “molest,” and “promiscuous.” Why do white dudes always have to make flowers into sex objects?
Byczynski, Lynn. The Flower Farmer; An Organic Grower’s Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers (Revised and Expanded). Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008.
A great resource for all things flower farming, from how to lay out your farm to what to plant and when to plant it to irrigation set-up to post-harvest handling tips. Definitely a beginner’s guide, but it has a lot of really helpful material.
Chezar, Ariella & Michaels, Julie. The Flower Workshop. Ten Speed Press, 2016.
Chezar and Michaels go over tips and tricks for various floral designs, from center pieces to bridal bouquets to boutonnieres to wreaths, garlands, and swags in every color and style imaginable. Further, they break down their favorite flowers by what season they’re available, how to improve their vase life, and their evolution/hybridization over time.
Coleman, Elliott. The Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 2nd edit. Chelsea Green Publishing, 1995.
General how-to for organic farming, including a wide variety of materials from a break down of compost and organic fertilizers to tools used on a small-scale organic farm to crop planning and rotation to organic weed management. It also included a component on start-up costs, scale, and capital for starting a farm. Not geared toward flower farming, but definitely helpful for small-scale flower.
Eastoe, Jane. Vintage Roses; Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden. Gibbs Smith, 2017.
Great page-by-page break down of rose varieties, including pros and cons, season of flowering/foliage, sun/shade preference, soil, habitat, average height/spread, how to prune, if it has thorns, how it holds up as a cut flower, and similar varieties.
Fortier, Jean-Martin. The Market Gardener; A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-scale Organic Farming. New Society Publishers, 2013.
A case study of how farming on one acre of land can be profitable and pleasurable for farmers. Goes into choosing a site, designing your farm, minimizing tillage, how to manage weeds and fertility organically, how to start seeds indoors and in the field, season extension, and harvest/storage of your crops. More geared toward vegetable farmers, but still a good basic guide to start from as well as an actual case study of a couple that is living quite comfortably off of one acre of land.
Friedemann-Sanchez, Greta. Assembling Flowers and Cultivating Homes; Labor and Gender in Colombia. Lexington Books, 2006.
This book explores the intersections of labor, gender, and the cut flower industry in Colombia. It looks at how the US’s offshoring of it’s floral industry (to combat the drug trade) has both positively and negatively impacted the people (predominately women) that live near and work at these mega farms now. Positive impacts include jobs suddenly open to women when previously jobs went exclusively to men, which increases autonomy and social mobility of these women, as well as asupport system outside of the family unit (women connecting with other women in their locale). Negative impacts include a deterioration of the family unit (mother no longer home with children/elders), general loss of land (land taken/sold to companies growing these flowers), gender manipulation (sexual harassment/assault by managers, women paid far less than men, etc.), and bad working/living conditions (physical labor, exposure to pesticides both at work and at home if living near the farm, etc.). Overall, a good book to gain perspective on the complexities and broader scope of the cut flowers imported to the US, and why local flowers, while better in a lot of ways may be taking away vital albeit unsafe/unhealthy work from women in Colombia.
Hartman, Ben. The Lean Farm; How to Minimize Waste, Increase Efficiency, and Maximize Value and Profits with Less Work. Chelsea Green, 2015.
All about how to operate an efficient farm by minimizing/eliminating any and everything that isn’t profitable for your farm, be it products that aren’t pulling their weight or clutter that is slowing your farm down.
Orr, Stephen. The New American Herbal. Clarkson Potter, 2014.
A reference book of herbs with a profile of each herb including origin, how to grow it, season, and medicinal/culinary uses. For me, this is a good reference book for unique and unusual flowers to plant in the garden, which ultimately will become part of the floral products I want to sell. Herbs add texture, variety and olfactory elements to bouquets and floral arrangements.
Riviera, Eduardo. Interviewed by Chris Blanchard. Farmer to Farmer Podcast, episode 125: “Eduardo Riviera of Sin Fronteras Farm & Food on Bootstrapping a Farm Business and Farming while Latino.” iTunes, 29 Apr 2017. http://www.farmertofarmerpodcast.com/episodes/rivera. Accessed 1 Feb 2018.
This was an incredibly informative and inspiring Farmer to Farmer episode! I loved learning more about Eduardo’s experience migrating from Mexico to Arizona to Minnesota and his journey overtime with farming. Although Eduardo is growing vegetables for a CSA, for restaurants, and for market, I found this episode incredibly helpful because he is farming in Minnesota. Because I want to eventually start a farm there, it was beneficial to hear all about the resources available to farmers in/around the Twin Cities (i.e. Land Stewardship Project Farm Dreams and Farm Beginnings courses; Dream of Wild Health; The Good Acre food hub; etc).