Houseplants for Dummies [Paperback]

Larry Hodgson (Author), National Gardening Association (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764551027 | ISBN-13: 978-0764551024 | Publication Date: August 25, 1998 | Edition: 1

Looking to bring some outside greenery indoors? Maybe you already have an indoor garden and are looking to create a botanical jungle.  Whatever the case may be, houseplants are an ideal inexpensive way to beautify your dwelling. You’ll be rewarded with purer air and you’re sure to enjoy watching your plant sprout, climb, and even flower.

Of course, before you start working on crafting a greenhouse, you need to know what kinds of plants you can grown in your home and which plants are best suited to your taste and style. Houseplants For Dummies introduces dozens of different foliage plants, flowering plants, cacti, and exotic varieties. Your green thumb is sure to get even greener once you’ve read about:

• Houseplant basics
• Identifying indoor microclimates
• Indoor plant “biographies”
• Differentiating between direct, indirect, and low light
• Watering needs
• Rules of fertilizing
• Temperature and growing cycles

Houseplants For Dummies is packed with houseplant growing techniques, tips, tricks, and even goes the extra mile with a chapter devoted to the various ways you can display houseplants if you’re looking for some bragging rights! Whether you’re new to the world of houseplant basics or you’re a seasoned gardener, you’ll get the “inside dirt” on topics such as:

• Various potting soil mixes
• Preparing plants for indoor life
• Cleaning, pruning, and staking
• Propagating houseplants
• Dealing with pests and diseases
• Building your own controlled climate
• And much more

The material is arranged into six clear and helpful sections: houseplant basics, houseplant profiles, growing essentials, potted plant maintenance, houseplant settings, and valuable ideas – each section helping you create your own indoor forest. Even if you’re convinced you have a black thumb, Houseplants For Dummies will have you living among the green in no time!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is packed with lots of useful information for the beginning gardener, and it's a great refresher for the experienced gardener as well. Perennials for Every Purpose is certainly a welcome addition to my perennials library."

From the Back Cover

"Indoor gardening comes alive under the user-friendly guidance of Houseplants For Dummies."
— Matthew Gardener, President, California Interior Plantscape Association

Hundreds of houseplant profiles help you pick the right plants

Turn your home into a "green" house

Make any and every room healthier and more attractive with houseplants! In this indispensable indoor gardener’s companion, you’ll get the dirt on selecting healthy plants and keeping them lush – even if you’re convinced you have a black thumb! Complete with eight pages of color photos, it’s just what you need to transform your home into a leafy green paradise.

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

Discover how to:

• Select plants that are best for you
• Choose pots and potting soil
• Give plants the right amount of water and light
• Fertilize plants and protect them from pests
• Get plants to propagate

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (August 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764551027
• ISBN-13: 978-0764551024
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear and Sound Information, May 26, 2002

By 

David Enzel (Chevy Chase, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Houseplants for Dummies (Paperback)

This book is well written and provides sound information and guidance. I bought the book because I know little about houseplants. After a few minutes of reading I went to the nursery as an informed consumer. The salesman in the store where I bought my plants confirmed that the book is excellent. You can look up a topic in the index and find out what you need to know in a few minutes. There is a description of the care required for many, many plants and the advantages and disadvantages of each. This book gives the uninitiated the inside scoop.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good content, so-so organization, March 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Houseplants for Dummies (Paperback)

The content of this book is very good - from the time you walk out the door to the garden store, to the time you finish enclosing your own greenhouse (yikes), this book will have you covered. Pictures & "insider tips" are particularly useful & clear. The book's overall organization, on the other hand, wasn't so hot. Chapter 3 (Buying a plant) and Chapter 14 (preparing plants for domestic life) are separated by the photo index, pruning tips, and instructions for hydroponic growing. Are we supposed to do all that on the car ride home? My guess is Hodgson's expertise had to be "reordered" to fit the Dummies format. All the same, if you can navigate the format, you'll find some great information

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who cares about organization!, April 11, 2004

By 

Alexandra (Buffalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Houseplants for Dummies (Paperback)

So what if the organization of this book isn't to some peoples likings (as some reviewers have remarked)! This book saved several of my tropical plants lives. I'm a long time plant lover and propagator but was unfamiliar with tropicals and a few other plant families. I primarily raised cacti and spider plants.

I was baffled by the brown bumps on my White Bird of Paradise plant but figured they were a part of the plant since they looked like wood bumps. After reading this book I found out they were bugs called Scale which suck the life from the plant and, when hatched, can jump from plant to plant. I also found out that what I had thought was just a problem with dust was in fact mildew, another potentially devistating disease. My plants are now all very happy.

I have hard water in my area and found out about the need to use vinegar and water to "rinse" the salt from the soil in hard water situations. I've also always suspected that the tags that come with plants are bogus and this book explains exactly why. I was so surprised about this book to tell you the truth. I got it from the library to see if I could figure out the above problems then had to buy the book.

I have other books that have all the "pretty pictures" but they are typically useless. I'd rather have a book that was informative and accurate. If you ant to keep your plant healthy and happy for the length of it's natural life, this book is among the ones to add to your shelf. If you want a book for plant identification then either get a Peterson Guide (all very good) or do a google image search with "tropical plants" or "flowering indoor plants", etc. I do that when looking up new varieties of herbs, medicinal weeds and other plants. Find the name then use a book, not all websites are good information.