The Orchid: The History of this Extraordinary Flower in 40 Orchids

Into every life a little rain must fall… But no, on this occasion not rain but a book of such beauty that just looking at it moved me more than many in the past have done.

I know I’m waxing lyrical but The Orchid (Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew) is more than a book. It comes boxed. The book  is exemplary and  authors Phillip Cribb and Lauren Gardiner explain the history of this sublime flower in 40 orchids, succinctly and thoroughly and with love.

As a family we first came to love orchids when we bought a house in Burton Bradstock, Dorset, on a  hill, with an garden of an acre. The first year the whole of the half acre rear garden was awash with bee orchids, and the front contained another much smaller orchid whose name I have forgotten, but whose presence brought orchid admirers from miles around. I think news travelled on the wind, much as it does for twitchers when a certain bird appears.

Then, before we moved to North Yorkshire recently we would walk our dogs along the paths in the wild flower area behind St James in Downley, High Wycombe, where in high summer, orchids grew.

It is any wonder that  orchids hold a place in our hearts.

The artwork is extraordinarily good, and the bonus is that the box – such a triumph of surprises – includes 40 frameable art prints.

Him Indoors is one of those strange beings who orchids kneel in front of and worship. He can work miracles with them, and will spend hours just looking at them, their stillness, their perfection, their everything and he has taken The Orchid and placed it on the coffee table before him, and just stares at it, then reads a page, absorbs, then stares at the illustrations again.

If you have an artist in the family, an orchid enthusiast or someone who wants to learn about this diverse and frequently elusive plant then buy it for them, or yourself: admire it, love it, keep it forever. Then you will find you are growing them, just as we are.

The Orchid. pub Carlton Publishing Group. £35.00. (Approx 200 colour artworks, 224 + 40 pages)

Milly Adams is the author of The Waterway Girls series (Arrow)