Flower Confidential - by Amy Stewart (Paperback)

About the Book

The flower business is a $40 billion global industry devoted to making flowers flawless. Stewart explores the relevance of flowers, and in the process she reveals all that has been gained--and lost--by tinkering with nature.

Book Synopsis

A globe-trotting, behind-the-scenes look at the dazzling world of flowers and the fascinating industry it has created.

Award-winning author Amy Stewart takes readers on an around-the-world, behind-the-scenes look at the flower industry and how it has sought--for better or worse--to achieve perfection. She tracks down the hybridizers, geneticists, farmers, and florists working to invent, manufacture, and sell flowers that are bigger, brighter, and sturdier than anything nature can provide. There's a scientist intent on developing the first genetically modified blue rose; an eccentric horticultural legend who created the most popular lily; a breeder of gerberas of every color imaginable; and an Ecuadorean farmer growing exquisite roses, the floral equivalent of a Tiffany diamond. And, at every turn she discovers the startling intersection of nature and technology, of sentiment and commerce.

From the Back Cover

A globe-trotting, behind-the-scenes look at the dazzling world of flowers and the fascinating industry it's created.

It might be unromantic to call a flower a commodity or a manufactured product, but flowers are both. They've become big business--created in laboratories, bred in test tubes, grown in factories, harvested by machines, packed into boxes, sold at auctions, and then flown across oceans and continents to your supermarket or local florist. Amy Stewart tracks down the hybridizers, geneticists, growers, and vendors working to invent, manufacture, and sell flowers that are bigger, brighter, and sturdier than anything nature can provide. From big agribusiness to local farming, from Europe to Latin America, Flower Confidential explores the intersection of nature and technology, of sentiment and commerce.

Review Quotes

"Stewart's journey takes us down many such paths, all connected by her own curiosity and highly readable prose. The greatest value of Flower Confidential, however, is that it was written at all."
--the Washington Post

About the Author

Amy Stewart is the award-winning author of six books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world. She is the cofounder of the popular blog Garden Rant and is a contributing editor at Fine Gardening magazine. She lives in Portland with her husband Scott Brown, a rare book dealer. When she isn't writing, she's making art, which you can see on Instagram, or teaching art and writing classes online.