The Unexpected Houseplant: 220 Extraordinary Choices for Every Spot in Your Home

Indoor plants have gotten a bad rap and are often associated with dusty and dowdy African violets, languishing philodendrons, and bloom-free orchids. No longer! It's time for plant lovers to dust off their houseplants, update their image, and discover just how exciting, trendy, and crucial plants can be in the home.

The Unexpected Houseplant, by renowned plant authority Tovah Martin, isn't your typical, old-fashioned, dowdy houseplant book. Martin's approach is revolutionary—picture brilliant spring bulbs by the bed, lush perennials brought in from the garden, quirky succulents in the kitchen, even flowering vines and small trees growing beside an easy chair. Along with loads of visual inspiration, readers will learn how to make unusual selections, where to best position plants in the home, and valuable tips on watering, feeding, grooming, pruning, and troubleshooting, season by season.

Martin also brings an evangelist's zeal to the task of convincing homeowners that indoor plants aren't just a luxury—they're a necessity. In addition to the design flair they add to a home, houseplants clean indoor air, which can be up to ten times more polluted than outdoor air.

Comprehensive, up-to-the-minute, and illustrated with gorgeous photography by Kindra Clineff, The Unexpected Houseplant is for beginners, green thumbs, decorators, and anyone who wants to infuse a bit of surprising green into their décor

Tovah Martin emerged from 25 years working at Logee's Greenhouses with a serious houseplant addiction. Author of the classics The New Terrarium and Tasha Tudor's Garden, Tovah has written more than a dozen gardening books. She served as garden editor for Victoria magazine throughout its lifetime and has been named the new Victoria's Writer in Residence for 2012. In addition, her articles appear in a broad range of magazines and periodicals, including Country Gardens, Garden Design, Coastal Home, Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful, Connecticut magazine, Yankee, The Litchfield County Times, and The Daily Telegraph. For two years, she served as segment producer and frequent guest on the PBS television series Cultivating Life, and she is a repeat guest on the CBS Sunday Early Show. Tovah teaches houseplant cultivation to Master Gardeners and lectures extensively throughout the country.

An accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA, Tovah gardens fanatically and organically both indoors and throughout her seven-acre Connecticut garden. In addition to bestowing their Sarah Chapman Francis Medal for "outstanding literary achievement" on Tovah in 2008, The Garden Club of America and the Litchfield Garden Club awarded Tovah honorary memberships. People, Places, Plants magazine called her "one of the top 10 most influential educators in gardening" and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society honored her with their Gold Medal "for extraordinary service to horticulture, especially greenhouses and indoor plants."

You may also be interested in the author's own Web site, PlantsWise.com.