Landscaping Indoors [Paperback]

Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Author), Scott D. Appell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide | Publication Date: November 2000

No more solitary houseplants on the windowsill-this book will inspire gardeners to create their own exquisite indoor gardens, whether it's a fernery, an orangerie, a water garden, or any number of other superb examples of indoor landscaping. This book includes basic information on growing, such as how to use artificial lighting, water, mix soil, fertilize, and control pests. Written by leading experts, it contains information on bamboo, trailing epiphytes, intriguing cacti and succulents, and uncommon members of the genus Ficus. A lively history of indoor gardening and a resource section, which includes a list of suppliers, rounds out this informative landscaping reference.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With contributions by various horticultural experts, this book continues Brooklyn Botanic Garden's award-winning series of gardening handbooks for the 21st century. It begins with an examination of the Victorians' fascination with growing plants indoors, a practice possible when glass manufacturing techniques made windows affordable to all. This happily coincided with the 19th-century's expanding world of commerce and trade, which also involved plant collecting. Several indoor garden designs are discussed with advice for assessing and establishing sufficient air circulation, temperature, moisture and light. Detailed instructions also are given for growing plants in Wardian cases and terrariums and for building an epiphyte tree and even an indoor water garden. Chapters are devoted to the selection and care of such popular plants as palms, cacti, ferns and ficus with the added surprise of chapters on growing citrus fruits and even bamboo indoors (and a note of comfort stating that not all bamboo are invasive, lest readers envision some kind of science fiction plant invasion). A helpful list of more common indoor plants and their cultivation requirements will appeal to readers who possess minimal time and plant expertise. Chapters are also devoted to the crucial elements in any successful plant cultivation: soil, light and water. A welcome addition is the information on biological pest control. Numerous designs and photos and sources for plants and supplies complete this practical volume. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

For expert advice in all realms of horticulture, gardeners have come to depend upon the handbooks produced by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The latest entry in the 21st-Century Gardening series presents an inviting manual for beautifying the indoors with a wide range of flora. Encompassing historical background and design schemes, water gardening and terrarium culture, the chapters contain material that extends to aspects of plant culture (soil, fertilizers, etc.), biological control of pests and diseases, and important lighting requirements. Green thumbs will be inspired to shift the focus from the backyard to the interior of the home via this volume's color illustrations and sound counsel on how to grow a host of species--palms and epiphytes, bamboos, cacti, figs, ferns and more. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Brooklyn Botanic Garden (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889538183
• ISBN-13: 978-1889538181
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,463,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bamboo Garden here I come!, April 8, 2001

By 

Patricia O'Tuama "rissa" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Landscaping Indoors (Paperback)

On the design side, this book succeeds very well, there's all kinds of information here about indoor garden design elements and practices including four design plans. One nice feature of this book is it's emphasis on historical gardening practices, especially those of the Victorians (there's even a list of rare book dealers specializing in botanical history at the end of the book in case you wish to see what your great-great-grandparents were reading). Included here are terrariums, Wardian cases and water gardening, each with a picture right out of garden books from the 1860's. The most intriguing entry in this section is "The Epiphyte Tree" -- a branch or log on which you grow epiphytes (plants such as tillandsias, hoyas, certain orchids and bromeliads, that grow on other plants).

I thought the second section of the book ("Plant Specifics") was the most interesting. Here we learn how to create and care for six specific types of gardens (Palm, Bamboo, Indoor Orangerie, Cacti and Other Succulents, Ficus and Fern). It would never have occurred to me to make an bamboo garden but judging from the pictures, this plant makes a terrific addition to anyone's indoor garden. Each of these sections has growing requirements plus a list of the best plants for indoors. The last chapter in this section lists other landscape plants including Aralia, Schefflera, Norfolk Island Pine, Dracaena and Cordyline, Spathiphylum (ie, Peace Lily), Yucca, Podocarpus, Aspidistra, Philodendron and Grape Ivy.

The last section has basic cultivation instructions (soil mixes, pots, fertilizers, watering, light requirements and biological pest control). The chapter I found most useful was that explaining how foot-candles and wattage are calculated and giving alternative sources of indoor lighting. This is followed by a bibliography, an extensive list of suppliers (including web addresses!) and the index. A very interesting and useful book at a very reasonable price.