The photography in this book is so beautiful. ( )

I received this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden is a beautiful book full of photos. The book starts with the basics of planning, digging, and essential techniques. Then, it is arranged seasonally through the year. I felt that this layout worked well for a gardening book. Everything is written from the viewpoint of the author and how she does things. I really liked some of her techniques for managing weeds and supporting the flowers.

Once you get into the seasonal part of the book, each season starts with a list of tasks for that season. Then, bloomers for that season are gone over. Specific varieties that the author uses are listed. Lastly, there is a section of flower arranging projects. At the end of the book is a list of the author's favorite resources.

I loved getting the point of view of someone who obviously knows what she is talking about. It was nice to see varieties of flowers listed that suited a cutting garden. The pictures were especially welcome.

Floret Farm is located in the Skagit Valley of Washington. As you may guess, this area doesn't have a lot in common with many other areas of the country. The author talks about 20 degrees as cold. Those of us in the northern midwest wish we only got that cold! The author did mention some things to do differently for colder climates but the advice was very generic and needed more detail. I don't imagine her suggestions work well in the hotter regions of the country either.

Overall, Floret Farm's Cut Flower Gardens is a great book to see a working farm in action. Just remember to supplement it with a good regional gardening guide. ( )

Fantastic book! Packed with detailed information on flower gardening. Gorgeous photos [I wish that some of the photos had been labeled/captioned with more details about the types of tools shown]. This book focuses on techniques used on a huge garden dedicated to growing & selling many varieties of cut flowers; however there is plenty of good info that can be applied to tiny gardens. Also lots of flower craft ideas & instructions! ( )

Cut Flower Garden is a wonderfully unique book. It functions as a reference book but is beautiful enough to be displayed on a coffee table. The content is presented with attractive typography, gorgeous photography and clear organization by seasons.

I marveled at all the different ways to prepare a cut stem for a vase and I was amazed at the huge variety of bountiful blooms -- both unusual and common -- featured throughout the book.

I would have appreciated a few more technical details -- a map of the garden’s specific location, labels for the more unusual tools and captions for some of the unlabeled photographs. But aside from that, I found this to be a lovely book and I am inspired to be more bold and creative in my own gardens. ( )

As a former florist I was so excited to learn I would receive a copy of this book as part of the Early Reviewer program. When it arrived I sat down with it that night and read it.

Sadly I was disappointed. The book is beautiful, polished and definitely worth the price but it didn't contain the information I was hoping for which was a detailed history of the farm and how it became what it is today. There is discussion of that but not as much as I wanted.

The book contains tons of information on growing flowers for selling and things to ponder as a flower farmer, definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the subject of cut flowers, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. ( )