If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you know that its climate is unique in the U.S. and that there are many microclimates within the region. It’s all mediterranean, as you can tell by its dry summers and mild, wet winters. But near the coast, summer fog carpets the land for weeks and winter is rarely frosty, while inland summers are hot, winter frosts are frequent. I live here and use my academic and first-hand experience with plants to help regional gardeners create year-round beauty and harvests in all of our wonderful, often perplexing microclimates.
Written originally for Great Britain, this book (and also Volume II) describes plants that grow outdoors in California's mediterranean climate. You will delight in recognizing old friends and discovering new plants that grow well in our region. There is a photograph of each plant in its native habitat and information on its basic care. An index in Volume II includes the plants in Volume I as well.
The indispensable new reference book for every gardener.
A unique photographic guide to plants that grow outdoors in subtropical climates (from Florida to California) or indoors in areas that have frost in winter. All can be grown outdoors in the summer. Includes introductory chapters on garden and greenhouse cultivation and on the habits of species in the wild.
With details on the history, characteristics and cultivation of each plant, Indoor and Greenhouse Plants is an essential addition to the popular Random House garden series by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix.
There are so many ways to make friends—and to be friends. As a painfully shy person for most of my life, I’ve learned that words aren’t always necessary, and that shared interests and non-verbal (or differently-verbal) communication can take you a long way. It’s probably why so many of my books focus on unconventional friendships, like that between a boy and a funny-talking fruit bat (in Megabat), a boy and his emotional support duck (in Quack), or even a bee and a flea (in Bee and Flea and the Compost Caper). Not surprisingly, I also love reading books that celebrate unlikely friends. These are just a few of my favorites.
This was the first book my son (a reluctant reader) ever snuck off with to read on his own after bedtime, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Husband and wife Tom Angelberger and Cece Bell make an unstoppable creative duo in this delightful series about a venus flytrap who solves the world’s greatest mysteries.
The only trouble is he’s a houseplant, so he can’t walk. No worries! Enter Nina, a helpful goat/assistant who pulls him everywhere on a skateboard... except there’s more trouble: she’s a goat, so she keeps eating the clues. It’s as goofy and delightful as it sounds and, best of all, once you’ve finished the first there are two more hilarious books to look forward to.
From husband-and-wife team Tom Angleberger, creator of the New York Times bestselling Origami Yoda series, and Cece Bell, author/illustrator of the Newbery Honor graphic novel El Deafo, comes the start to a funny and clever illustrated chapter-book series about a mystery-solving Venus flytrap. With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, this early-chapter-book series is a must for beginning readers. Inspector Flytrap in the Da Vinci Cold introduces kids to the humorous and wacky world of Inspector Flytrap's Detective Agency, home to the world-renowned solver of BIG DEAL mysteries. The plant detective works tirelessly with his assistant Nina the…
We’re Chantal Gordon and Ryan Benoit — the cofounders of gardening/design/DIY blog The Horticult. Our site shows you how to create handsome yet effective habitats for your plants. That includes a collection of mounted staghorn ferns under our citrus trees, a vertical garden for your herbs, and a sleek bog for carnivorous pitcher plants. One of our most popular DIYs is how to build an outdoor theater behind your rosemary hedge. We show people how to create outdoor spaces they can deeply enjoy — whether it’s a patio, balcony, or yard. A key to welcoming someone is good design. The more you like hanging out outside, the better care you’ll take of your plants.
What if your garden is completely indoors? This coffee table book encapsulates the #plantparenthood aesthetic (love it or hate it) of houseplants mobbed together and houseplants punctuating smooth, sunlit interiors. What givesUrban Jungle real cred though are its specific plant recommendations and care tips. It’s instructive to see what plants you can pair (or herd) together in similar spots — like an opuntia in a super-bright window paired with a huge Dracaena reflexa lurking five feet away. And indeed a fiddle-leaf fig, snake plant, kentia palm, Pilea peperomioides, schefflera, and spider plant all gathered together not only make sense light-wise but are an intriguing study in contrasting textures. It also inspired us to put a palm in front of a warmly colored accent wall.
Urban Jungle: Living and Styling with Plants is a source of inspiration, ideas and a manual for all of those who want to bring more plants into their home. The book guides the reader through different "green" homes in five European countries and shows how beautiful, unique, creative and even artistic living with plants can be. More than that the reader finds endless ideas for styling from the bloggers of the "Urban Jungle Bloggers" community. To complete the topic of indoor plants the book offers easy help for taking care of the plants and DIY tips.
It’s often said that it takes a village to raise a child. I grew up in an intergenerational family in India. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles provided that extended community. Grandparents can pass down traditions, ensuring the preservation of culture. Stories that speak to the reality of multi-generational households can normalize and celebrate the presence of elders. The number of Americans living in multigenerational households is about four times larger than it was in the 1970s, yet the educational potential and the joy of these relationships are often ignored in literature.
I love plants and gardening, and in this clever story, an aunt sends her niece a letter and a houseplant every month. I also love that the letters are written in poetic rhyme. Young kids love rhyme, which adds to the playfulness when reading aloud.
A delightful celebration of family, plants, and the boundlessness of love told in lively, poetic letters from aunt to niece with bright, irresistible illustrations!
Every month, an aunt mails a letter and a houseplant to her niece and . . . LOVE GROWS!
I'm sending this pothos, so while we're apart, you'll look at its leaves and know you're in my heart.
In the vein of We Are the Gardeners and Dear Girl, this beautiful story is the perfect gift for Valentine's Day, birthdays, graduation, and more! Young readers and gardeners will also love the sidebars on each spread with…
I am an award-winning producer, author, and member of the Producers Guild of America. One of my fondest memories as a child is coming home from a weekend at my oma’s house to find that my mother had redecorated my room. The bedspread was pink, red, and white and so were the curtains but the main event was the fluffy white pouf of a rug on the floor. Home is a place that has always been important to me, which is why these books have found their way into my library.
I used to fancy myself as having a green thumb, until I planted my first outdoor garden.
These days I’m back inside with Hilton Carter’s Living Wild. Based in Baltimore, Carter is a director, editor, and fine artist with an encyclopedic knowledge about plants and how to style them. He’s also the dad to 250 plants including a fiddle-leaf named Frank.
In this, his fourth book, Living Wild, he talks about everything that is needed to design a “living home” and walks the reader through rooms he’s styled and his process. Check out his Instagram for a Living Wild playlist.
In Living Wild, bestselling plant stylist, author, designer and family man Hilton Carter explores multiple ways to style your home with plants - and cultivate happiness along the way.
The therapeutic benefits of living with and tending plants are well known - they offer a connection to the natural world that nurtures our mental and physical health. In this, his latest book, Hilton shows how to create a lush, stylish space with flourishing plants that bring life to your home and promote a happy and contented mindset. He discusses interior design choices - choosing the right colour scheme, textures and…
I have spent 25 years working at the New York Botanical Garden! My life’s pursuit of the green has been my greatest achievement. I'm a self-made terrarium designer. I developed my style and skills at NYBG and knew that I had to share this with the world. My books have sold over 14,000 copies worldwide. This is amazing to me and has taught me that my though-ness and step-by-step lessons were worth every word! Horticulture is a subject that comes naturally to me. I happily know the names of dozens and dozens of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, tropical, desert, you name plants from all over the world and I’m learning new ones every season.
Stephanie has taught me so much about gardening that I didn't even know I needed to know. Her beautiful lessons about permaculture, a word that I didn't understand what it meant until Stephanie took the time to teach me! This is a must-need book in your gardening library.
She has created a beautiful garden of her own where she time-tests all her teachings. The climate in Vancouver Canada makes this a great environment. Stephanie and I became friends years ago when she started her blog and she has promoted my work on several occasions.
I trust her judgment and know she knows her subject and then some!
Discover how to work with nature, instead of against it, by employing permaculture techniques to create a garden that is not just more beautiful and productive, but also more resilient.
While the word permaculture might sound intimidating, the principals behind it are not. The main goal of permaculture is to turn your space into a functioning ecosystem that’s less reliant on external resources and better able to sustain itself through many seasons of growth and change as it resists pests, diseases, and climate extremes. Whatever the size of your space, from a tiny patio garden to a big backyard, and…
I have spent 25 years working at the New York Botanical Garden! My life’s pursuit of the green has been my greatest achievement. I'm a self-made terrarium designer. I developed my style and skills at NYBG and knew that I had to share this with the world. My books have sold over 14,000 copies worldwide. This is amazing to me and has taught me that my though-ness and step-by-step lessons were worth every word! Horticulture is a subject that comes naturally to me. I happily know the names of dozens and dozens of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, tropical, desert, you name plants from all over the world and I’m learning new ones every season.
Tovah Martin is my houseplant hero! Tovah is a rare bird! Her love of houseplants rings through her writing. She has made gardening and indoor plants her life’s pursuit and it shows. This book is one of several Tovah has written. Her work often appears in Better Homes & Gardens magazine. I have followed her career from day one. Her vision of the plant is joyful and information only someone with this great love of the houseplant can share with you. If you buy one book on how to care for and incorporate the beauty of green plants in your home you must read Tovah's book!
Houseplants are the bane of many homeowners. How can you keep them alive and stop them looking leggy, anaemic and unattractive. In this practical and beautifully photographed book, author, Tovah Martin, author of the Unexpected Houseplant recommends which plants to choose and how to put them together into attractive low-maintenance displays.
This
book is complete picture book perfection. It’s got a classroom of kids, a
seemingly unremarkable plant named Jerry, a patient teacher who’s smarter than
he seems, frustration, problem-solving, creativity, love, growth, humor, and
the absolutely most unexpected but perfect ending a picture book could ever hope
for. And, it is exceedingly well-written.
I’m a hard sell when it comes to picture
books making me laugh, but this one got me. And, it’s charming as heck. So
charming. You’ll never look at a houseplant the same after reading this story.
Trust me: You need this book! And so do
any children in your life.
An irresistible picture book about a boy and his classmates who long for a class pet, but discover the joys and rewards of nurturing a class plant.
Room 107 has a cockatiel. Room 108 has a chinchilla. Even the Art Room has a bearded dragon. But in Room 109, Arlo's classroom, there is a plant. A mostly green, hardly growing, never moving plant. Even though it doesn't squeak, whistle, or whimper, Arlo’s teacher says the plant is “more than enough excitement for us.” But what could possibly be exciting about a plant?
I remember my first ever houseplant—doesn’t everyone? It was a spider plant, just a small one grown as an offset from my mother’s vast ‘mother’ plant. Yes—two mothers! The plant and my green-fingered mother got me hooked on houseplants. As a social historian, I’ve written about all things to do with the home—clothes, gardens, even gardeners themselves but houseplants? Why was there no social history of plants in the home? Where did that spider plant come from? And when? The answer is Japan in the late 18th century. But the truth is that plants have been brought into homes for centuries and their stories are fascinating.
This book has been my indoor plant bible for over thirty years. John Brookes is best known for linking indoor living spaces with outdoor gardens but here he turned his masterly design eye on houseplants. Yes, all the necessary practical information on a wide range of houseplants is here. But what really separates this book from the rest—and makes it completely ageless—is the photography which was so ahead of its time, it looks as though it was published last year. Interior shots with plant placement ideas with enough inspiration for the most demanding Instagram generation. What more could one need?
Offers advice on decorating with plants, tells how to match plants with containers, and covers cut- and dried-flower arrangements, plant care, and room-by-room deoorating advice
A house plant in my living room attacked another plant, wrapping itself around it and killing it. Then another plant tried to sink roots into a neighbor. I began to do a little research, then a lot of research, and learned that plants accomplish amazing feats. They can tell by the angle of the sun when spring is coming, and they can call parasitic wasps to rid themselves of caterpillars. Plants vastly outweigh and outnumber animals, so they run this planet. What if, on another planet, they could think like us… and that’s why I wrote a novel.
Blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias used to think plants were boring. Then, in college, he got a summer job in habitat restoration at an old quarry, and he fell in love.
He learned about the strange ways plants have sex, how they conquer new territories, and what animals they prefer to eat. Most of all, they fight for survival. It’s not exactly war, but there is never enough water, nutrients, space, and light, and there are always predators. Plants meet their challenges in surprising, wonderful ways.
So go outside, he says, and get to know your local plants like you know your friends.
"Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom." James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard
#1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays
In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms.
A botanist's defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology…
