Growing Healthy Houseplants: Choose the Right Plant, Water Wisely, and Control Pests

Ellen Zachos correctly claims in her book Growing Healthy Houseplants that live plants transform anyone’s living quarters into a charming home. Her book is a small paperback written for beginner to intermediate green thumbs, even if you claim you don’t have any. She gives many valid reasons why greenery in a home is beneficial to its owner. After a short introduction, she starts her first of the three-part book with essentials: light, water/humidity, growing medium, and fertilization. Once you establish these all-important basics for your chosen (or existing) houseplants, Zachos teaches you the daily care of your plants. Not to discourage beginners, the care is certainly not daily, but just easy regular maintenance. Here we learn about pruning tools and pruning, grooming, repotting and propagation, pest control, and vacation houseplants options. The third part is about choosing your houseplants and establishing an indoor garden. She lists her suggestions of twenty relatively easy houseplants, five indoor trees, and six succulents. With a little enthusiasm and commitment, and following Zachos’s instructions, your home will be much more than simple living quarters. The book is well written, easy to understand, and the little monochrome sketches are helpful. The book this is ideal for beginner plant lovers.