Flower Confidential

Categories: Home & Gardening , Travel , Outdoors & Nature , Nonfiction

Every time I take a walk on my lunch hour, I pass by a florist’s shop.  I try to peek inside the open door and catch a glimpse or a whiff of the beautiful roses, lilies, tulips, and gerbera daisies for sale.  Sometimes I see a customer leave with a parcel of flowers or a bouquet in a vase and I happily imagine them sitting on my desk.  

Author Amy Stewart loves flowers too.  In her new book,

Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers, she travels around the world and behind the scenes to catch her own glimpse of the cut flower industry.  And what an interesting glimpse it is!

Stewart visits California, Miami, Holland, and Latin America to see firsthand how flowers are bred, grown, shipped, and sold.  Along the way, she tells intriguing stories, such as the quest for the elusive blue rose or the eccentric breeder of the popular 'Stargazer' lily. 

Flower Confidential is a fine mix of botany, commerce, history, and travel writing.  If you enjoyed The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan or

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, then you are sure to enjoy this book.  Stewart, an avid gardener, has also written From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden and The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms.

Don't forget to visit the Cincinnati Flower Show--in full bloom at

Coney Island through April 29th!