Synopses & Reviews
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
Review
For those who have tired of spider plants and cactus, garden writer Martin (The New Terrarium) suggests a years worth of new options. She begins her tour in autumn (the start of the indoor gardeners year) and offers dozens of tempting suggestions. There are familiar bulbs and unexpected conifers, fruiting trees, and carnivorous plants. Each plant listing includes a photograph and an information box describing its flower, foliage, cultivation requirements, and potential problems. What really sets this apart from other reference guides are Martins imaginative choices. She dares readers to invite conifer trees and summer coleus inside for the winter and explains how to help the plants thrive there. She lures readers beyond the Christmas poinsettia to the whimsical, Dr. Seussian charm of a holiday Echeveria. She offers fruit, fragrance, foliage, and flower. Clineffs full-color photographs provide plenty of inspiration for the home gardener and decorator. This is an imaginative guide to bringing the delights of the garden indoors. Library Journal
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“All indoor plant hobbyists in every geographic area will enjoy and learn from this book. Its fresh approach deserves a thumbs-up.” Booklist
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"Will boost the confidence of even the most black-thumbed houseplant owner. Martins can-do enthusiasm is infectious, her creativity inspiring." Design New England
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"As the air gets crisper outside, it's time to rethink what plants can do to enliven our interior spaces. Tips on how to care for ordinary and not-so-ordinary species are revealed, so non-green thumbers need not fear." The Philadelphia Inquirer
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"Refreshing in the world of garden books." The Philadelphia Inquirer
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"[Martin] has a witty, creative voice that warms her new book." Horticulture
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"This isn't just another book on houseplants; it's an invitation to adventure." Gardenista
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"Good choice for plant geeks and anyone tired of the same old peace lilies, ivies and Boston ferns." The Daily Hampshire Gazette
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"This book engenders so much enthusiasm for indoor flora that you can find yourself outdoors with a shovel in your hand robbing your own garden of plants to bring inside." Winston-Salem Journal
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"...informative, entertaining and really beautiful." The Patriot-News
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"Martin's book makes one look very differently at the whole houseplant phenomenon. It isn't so much a practical guide...as a challenge to think outside the box when trying to bring the outside inside." The Amherst Bulletin
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Provides an incredible array of unusual plants for growing indoors. The Amherst Bulletin
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"[Proves] there is a plant for pretty much every spot in a house."
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"Refreshing in the world of garden books." Traditional Home
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Provides an incredible array of unusual plants for growing indoors. The Chronicle Herald
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"A smart, stylish book on indoor gardening." Country Gardens
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"Tovah Martin's newest book is no dry encyclopedic volume: Her personal, engaging writing style is as entertaining as it is informative." The Seattle Times
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"[Martin] writes in a captivatingly personal way [with] exuberance and deep knowledge... [will] keep you reading."
Synopsis
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. Martin 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 design flair, houseplants clean indoor air, which can be up to ten times more polluted. 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.
Synopsis
"An imaginative guide to bringing the delights of the garden indoors." --Publishers Weekly
The Unexpected Houseplant, by renowned plant authority Tovah Martin, offers a revolutionary approach to houseplants. Instead of the typical varieties, Martin suggests hundreds of creative choices--brilliant spring bulbs, lush perennials brought in from the garden, quirky succulents, and flowering vines and small trees. Along with loads of visual inspiration, you will learn how to make unusual selections, where to best position plants in the home, and valuable tips on watering, feeding, and pruning.
About the Author
Tovah Martin emerged from twenty-five years working at Logee’s Greenhouses with a serious houseplant addiction. Author of the classics The Unexpected Houseplant, 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. 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 her 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 its Gold Medal “for extraordinary service to horticulture, especially greenhouses and indoor plants.”