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These books show you how house plants can bring a little life into the most dreary of cardboard-box homes.
Whether you can offer them a sumptious victorian conservatory or only a narrow window-ledge, why not share your house with a plant?
You never know, talk to your houseplants like Prince Charles, and you might find they answer back!
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The latest volume from the indefatigable pen of Dr Hessayon, this book updates the first House Plant Expert by adding new varieties - orchids, bromeliads etc - that were not available for the first edition. The format follows the same familiar and trusty layout that has served the Expert books so well over the years.
The photos are somewhat uninspiring - the Swiss Cheese plant model clearly dates from the early '70s - and the information seems to lack detail. The tips on 'roomscaping' seem very chintzy and dated, but the first edition sold an incredible 14 million copies, so these cavils are probably irrelevant. Snobs will sniff and reveal themselves to be completely out of touch with popular culture, while this book will doubtless fly from the shelves in its millions
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One of Dr Hessayon's classic and evergreen Expert bestsellers. Slightly old-fashioned, but dependable. Clearly laid out in his inimitable style with concise, dogmatic and accurate information.
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One of Dr Hessayon's classic and evergreen Expert bestsellers. Slightly old-fashioned, but dependable. Clearly laid out in his inimitable style with concise, dogmatic and accurate information.
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Click to buy >>> |
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Containers can be all you've got, or they can be used to great effect within a larger garden. Either way, this book has lots of good ideas and suggestions for enhancing their effect.
Having said that, I lost count of the instructions that began "Seal a large terracotta jar with PVA." And then paint white/red/black etc with varying patterns to add interest.
Though sadly I'm quite sure that using scumble glaze and acrylic paint with a variety of large round paintbrushes, short-bristled brushes, stippling brushes and small paintbrushes to create a mellow effect with "irregular veins running through the marble" would be utterly beyond me and result in something quite horrendous, but perhaps I'm being prematurely defeatist.
And some of the contemporary effects with rope, stone and acrylic are quite fun.
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That's it for this category. Click here to suggest a book on houseplants/house plants, container or conservatory gardening and we'll do our best to review it here.
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