The Houseplant Handbook

I love it when a book lives up to its name. The Houseplant Handbook: Basic Growing Techniques and a Directory of 300 Everyday Houseplants does just that. This 224-page book provides everything you need to grow healthy, prolific houseplants and create an amazing indoor garden.

The Houseplant Handbook covers a wide range of topics, from the basics—such as proper watering, feeding, and pruning—to more advanced indoor gardening techniques. The author, David Squire, combines his horticultural training and indoor gardening experience to teach you various methods for successful indoor gardening.

Key Features of the Handbook

The step-by-step instructions in The Houseplant Handbook are thorough, understandable, and workable. Accompanied by photos and clear explanations, the book guides you through the process of repotting a houseplant. It also includes instructions for creating indoor topiaries, as well as grooming and supporting houseplants.

One of the most impressive sections of the book details how to propagate houseplants. You’ll find an excellent tutorial on every conceivable method for inexpensively increasing your houseplant collection. Squire covers sowing seeds for popular houseplants like coleus and demonstrates how to take various types of cuttings, including:

• Stem-tip cuttings
• Leaf-stem cuttings
• Leaf-petiole cuttings
• Whole leaf cuttings
• Leaf-square cuttings
• Leaf-triangle cuttings
• Cross-leaf cuttings
• Horizontal cane cuttings
• Vertical cane cuttings
• Cactus cuttings
• Small-leaved succulent cuttings

Additional Care Techniques

Squire also discusses when and how to divide houseplants, providing a list of suitable plants for this technique. He explains air-layering methods and concludes this section with tips on propagating plants that produce runners and plantlets, like the indoor air-cleaning dynamo, the spider plant.

If you’re going on vacation, Squire includes advice on caring for your houseplants while you’re away. He offers ingenious ideas, such as using capillary matting or wicking, to ensure your plants absorb moisture while you’re gone. He also provides guidance on where to place your plants before leaving home, recommending locations away from drafty, drying areas and direct sunlight.

Comprehensive Plant Directory

The Houseplant Handbook features a comprehensive directory of 300 plants that is both thorough and to the point. Each entry includes color photos, descriptions, growth habits, and important growing advice. You’ll learn the lighting needs of each plant for summer and winter and how to care for them throughout the year. Additionally, Squire shares the propagation technique for each plant, making this an all-around thorough houseplant guide.

Whether you’re looking to enhance your indoor gardening skills or simply want to know how to care for your houseplants, The Houseplant Handbook is an invaluable resource for any plant enthusiast.