Terrain The houseplant book : an insider's guide to cultivating and collecting the most sought-after specimens

Lowrie, merchandise manager for the garden brand Terrain, joins with the company's "plant team" for this comprehensive guide to houseplants. After covering plant care 101, Lowrie shares tips for repotting (which "not all plants appreciate or recover quickly from"), propagation, and dealing with diseases. Then come plant profiles, which are broken into nine sections, among them "pop art," which features colorful, patterned plants such as calathea and cane begonia; "small wonders" including African violets and false shamrock; "unfussy friends" like pothos and snake plants; and viney succulent "ramblers." Each profile includes notes for watering, light, and soil; especially helpful are the shopping notes: for monstera, one should "buy a more established plant to get the iconic leaf shape right away," while oxalis "will never grow more than a few inches higher than its container," so it's best to "buy close to the size you want to display." Lowrie covers all the bases, and delivers a survey that's encyclopedic but not overwhelming: "the most important thing you can give your plants," she writes, "is your presence." Seasoned and new plant collectors alike will find this worth returning to. (Oct.)

Lowrie, divisional merchandise manager of plants and garden for Terrain, a garden, home, and lifestyle brand, capitalizes on the resurgent interest in houseplants. She shares facts and cultural information on an assortment of houseplants, from the easy to grow to the rare, expensive, difficult to locate, or challenging to cultivate. Lowrie provides an overview on caring for plants, including propagation, and covers a variety of houseplants, arranged by broad category, such as aroids or ferns. Each entry has a description of the plant, a photo, and detailed care instructions. She also profiles interesting commercial houseplant growers and offers display tips. With 300 color photos, the title concludes with a glossary and lists of favorite botanical gardens, plant societies and clubs, and recommended reading. VERDICT This beautiful book is chock-full of information about many uncommon plants and seems geared to the collector or at least the intermediate houseplant grower because of the rarity, strict growing conditions, or expense of many of her choices. Tovah Martin's The Unexpected Houseplant is another solid choice for those who want to grow unusual houseplants; beginners could start with Barbara Pleasant's The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual or Darryl Cheng's The New Plant Parent.--Sue O'Brien