Orchids, the epitome of floral beauty, have long inspired poetry, adventure, art and scientific discovery. In Orchid Muse, historian and home orchid grower Erica Hannickel brings together fascinating tales of the orchid-smitten throughout history, along with tips on growing the exotic blooms at the centre of each account. Consider, for instance, Empress Eugenie and Queen Victoria, the two most powerful women in nineteenth-century Europe, who shared a passion for Coelogyne cristata. John Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, and Raymond Burr, the actor famed for playing Perry Mason, cultivated thousands of orchids, introducing captivating new and unusual species. Transporting the reader from hazardous Amazonian journeys to a seedy dime museum in Gilded Age New York's Tenderloin, from the glories of the palace gardens of Chinese Empress Cixi to the island of Bourbon, where the vanilla orchid thrives, Orchid Muse spans the world, exploring our enduring fascination with these exquisite flowers.
Erica Hannickel, a master gardener, is professor of environmental history at Northland College. The author of Orchid Muse: A History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers and Empire of Vines: Wine Culture in America, she writes for Orchids magazine and blogs at www.orchidmuse.com. She lives in Wisconsin.
Title: Orchid Muse: A History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers
Author: Hannickel, Erica
ISBN: 9780393867282
Binding:
Publisher: WW Norton & Co
Publication Date: 2023-02-03
Number of Pages: 320
Weight: 0.9693 kg
If flowers are how plants have sex, orchids are the sexiest harlot-nymphs of them all, as Erica Hannickel reveals in this delightful and exquisitely explicit ode to orchidelirium. -- Adam Leith Gollner, author of The Fruit Hunters
A fascinating survey of one of the world's most intriguing (and provocative!) blooms, complete with lush illustrations. This book is an enchanting read for any gardener, house plant enthusiast, or history lover. -- Jessica Roux, author of Floriography
A fun fascinating romp through the history of the world's favorite flower. -- Bruce Rogers, author of The Orchid Whisperer
An entertaining romp through the history of human adventures with orchids. -- Dominique Browning - The Wall Street Journal