Terrain: The Houseplant Book: An Insider’s Guide to Cultivating and Collecting the Most Sought-After Specimens

Lowrie, merchandise manager for the garden brand Terrain, joins with the company’s “plant team” for this comprehensive guide to houseplants. After covering plant care 101, Lowrie shares tips for repotting (which “not all plants appreciate or recover quickly from”), propagation, and dealing with diseases. Then come plant profiles, which are broken into nine sections, among them “pop art,” which features colorful, patterned plants such as calathea and cane begonia; “small wonders” including African violets and false shamrock; “unfussy friends” like pothos and snake plants; and viney succulent “ramblers.” Each profile includes notes for watering, light, and soil; especially helpful are the shopping notes: for monstera, one should “buy a more established plant to get the iconic leaf shape right away,” while oxalis “will never grow more than a few inches higher than its container,” so it’s best to “buy close to the size you want to display.” Lowrie covers all the bases, and delivers a survey that’s encyclopedic but not overwhelming: “the most important thing you can give your plants,” she writes, “is your presence.” Seasoned and new plant collectors alike will find this worth returning to. (Oct.)