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Guide to Growing Houseplants
It's easy to say (and so it's said again and again) that growing house plants is simple, and that indoor gardening is a hobby anyone can be successful at.
Well, both these statements are true -- but both have to be modified a little if we are going to be completely honest about it. Let's look at them, then, a little closer.
First: Is it easy to grow house plants? The answer to that is yes - it's easy to grow house plants just as it's easy to build bird houses, or breed tropical fishes, or make your own clothes.
It's easy if you are interested in what you're doing; and if you take the trouble to learn a few of the basic rules before you plunge in. If you enjoy watching the fruits of your handiwork turning out well, then growing house plants is going to be easy for you.
Second: Can anyone grow house plants successfully? The answer here is an even more unqualified yes. If you have the interest, and don't live in a basement with no light - or in Greenland - you can grow many, many plants successfully.
That's one of the charms of indoor gardening - the results you get are your own. Every room, every home, every plant presents its own problems, and when the home gardener grows a successful plant or a successful garden it is a credit to his own skill and ingenuity rather than his ability to follow someone else's plans.
The Guide to House Plants is rather a guide book, a book that is written to save the beginner (and the experienced home gardener) from mistakes they otherwise might make. It has been written to pass on to the amateur secrets that it took professionals years of experience to learn.
It has been written to provide its reader wherever possible with the background information that will best enable him to get the most out of his chosen hobby.
There are literally hundreds of plants that you can grow in your indoor garden - and consequently thousands of different ways in which they can be arranged. At the end of the book we have included a rather extensive chart which you can use for quick reference. It enables you to tell pretty much at a glance which plants fit into any given situation.
The physical properties of more than a hundred plants are given, as well as some basic information such as how much light each one likes, and the best methods for propagation. The main categories into which they have been divided are flowering plants, bulbs, foliage plants, and cacti and succulents.
Many of them have been illustrated to give you a more exact idea of how they look in their living state. Although obviously in the limited space available we can't illustrate every plant, we are firm believers in the philosophy expounded by the wise Chinese gentleman when he said that a single picture was worth a thousand words.
Therefore, you will find that throughout the latter part of this book we have relied heavily on pictures and captions to give you the information you need. If you feel inclined to try one of those plants for which there is no picture, it's an easy matter to drop in at your local florist shop, seed house or nursery where they will be glad to supply you with a catalogue picture or, if they have it, the living plant
From a Modern Guide to House Plants
by Ann Warren
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