lighting

I'm looking to set up a small studio for floral photography and I want to buy some lighting but know absolutely nothing about it. I shoot primarily landscapes and the floral I have done has been in natural outdoor light. I want to be able to adjust the intensity and focus the light ( as in broad or narrow beam). I have a diffuser, a silver and a gold reflector all ready. I have heard of soft boxes but don't really know what they do other than diffuse light. I want to be able to create soft light and soft shadows. Will one light suffice. Obviously two light sources would be more versatile but how necessary? The excellent work of Pat Sampson from a few years ago comes to mind.

Bruce: I don't do any studio work myself but if I remember correctly Nathan Buck put together a small home system. You might want to contact him if you don't get responses to this message. >=))>

Bruce, I've done some floral photos in my basement since it's pretty easy to keep most outside light out and the concrete floor doesn't vibrate (more of an issue than people think. especially for macro). I've used shop lights, small LED lights, flashlights, and flash units with remote triggers, diffusers, and improvised reflectors. I've used black roofing paper as a back drop. Backlight, sidelight, under light, over light of varied intensities for different effects. I use a tripod and long exposures in low light most of the time. Small LED lights do the trick.