The Inspired Houseplant: Transform Your Home with Indoor Plants from Kokedama to Terrariums and Water Gardens to Edibles

This book will transform the mind-sets and, by extension, the surroundings of people who worry that their ministrations are murderous to houseplants. Gardener and entrepreneur Stearns, who owns a plant store in greater Seattle, proves the perfect coach for the houseplant-challenged. Her simple 101-style guide discusses the basics of potting, watering, pruning, and feeding, and wisely sticks to the basics, selecting and organizing into groups plants that will reward beginners. Those same neophytes may find challenging a number of the plant projects she offers. Enthusiastic DIY types will have the staple gun needed for the Living Herb Frame; the less well-equipped may want to stick to something simpler, like thumbtacking philodendron vines in graceful patterns on a wall. Beautiful photography of lush, plant-filled spaces convincingly makes Stearns’s points. First-time homeowners or new apartment dwellers who long for green but lack confidence in their plant-tending abilities will be greatly helped by this volume. (Feb.)