Indoor Plants: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Caring for Houseplants

Rating:
Summary: Very Reliable Help
Review: As a novice houseplant keeper, I rely heavily on the books I read for information I need to keep my plants healthy. This book helped me identify ALL the plants I own, which was no small feat in that most were given to me by others who didn't know the variety. It has easy to read information on caring for plants, and I am able to understand the language used. Some other encyclopedia type books make it difficult to get the info needed, and are geared toward professional horticulturists, rather than laymen like myself. I found this book to be very useful, and would highly recommend it to others who have "hobby" plants. The pictures are great, too! They provide a good explanation for the written description of problems common to houseplants, and are a great guide to diagnosing ailments.

Rating:
Summary: Great gift and/or reference book.
Review: The photography and text of this beautiful book are well-done and easy to follow. The authors cover most aspects of plant care, from basic watering and lighting to reproduction and pest control to extensive entries on houseplant varieties. Every plant entry seems unique, breaking from the dull template of information that the more encyclopedia-like plant books have. This engaging style is a strength of the book, but it is also a weakness because the style lends itself to inconsistency. For example, the entry on Saintpaulias (African Violets) specifies the height at which artificial lights should be placed above the plants, but many of the other entries do not give such information. Another complaint is that the secondary plant list in the back does not feature a photograph of every plant. For the price I paid, I would have willingly give up a few of the extra photos in the front if it would result in a more comprehensive photo collection in the back. Identifying p! lants without pictures is very difficult. Nonetheless, no plant book is perfect, and this one comes very close. It combines two types of books -- the coffee-table book and the reference text. All too often plant books do one at the expense of the other.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This has been a joy to go through. I am a novice at this. Its hard finding a good first book to start with. This is it. It has great pictures for you to match your plants to and enough detail on how to take care of them without loosing you in a bunch of detail. I would recommend this book to anyone starting out.