Your Houseplant's First Year: The Care and Feeding of Your First Grown

by Deborah L. Martin, Yu Kito Lee (Illustrator)

Overview

Grow joy in your home with Deborah L. Martin's Your Houseplant’s First Year, featuring illustrations by artist Yu Kito Lee!

Being a good plant parent doesn’t mean lavishing your plant with artisanal water, the shiniest pots, or the fanciest fertilizers. It’s about consistent, loving care. No matter whether you choose to bring home an easy-growing peace lily or a strong-willed fiddle-leaf fig, the friendly, expert advice packed inside these pages will help you give your plant everything it needs to thrive.

-Discover the care that’s best for your own special sprout
-Troubleshoot problems and help your plant achieve its full potential
-Expand your plant family with simple propagation tips
-Record special moments—from your plant’s arrival in your home to milestones in growth

Get ready to enjoy a natural, healing bond; new confidence in your plant-parenting abilities; and pride in every achievement your sprout reaches. Your Houseplant’s First Year will be your trusted guide as you grow together!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250273734
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/18/2021
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	139 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Deborah L. Martin has been sharing her love and knowledge of indoor and outdoor gardening for decades. A former extension agent in the USDA's urban gardening program, she has contributed to numerous books and magazines, including The Complete Compost Gardening Guide, Rodale's Organic Life, and GROW: The Magazine of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. When she's not gardening or writing, she manages the Bethlehem Farmers Market at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Yu Kito Lee is an illustrator and motion designer based in Los Angeles. She draws inspiration from the tiny details of everyday life and exploring vibrant sceneries when she travels. When she's not drawing, you can find her out and about with her family, listening to live music, visiting museums, trying new food, reading, and traveling to faraway places.

YU KITO LEE is a Japanese illustrator and motion designer based in Los Angeles. She draws inspiration from the tiny details of everyday life and exploring vibrant sceneries during her travels. Her work ranges from stationeries, greeting cards, books and magazines. When she’s not drawing, you can find her out and about with her family, listening to live music, visiting museums, trying new food, reading, and traveling to faraway places. She is the illustrator of Your Houseplant's First Year.

Table of Contents

Introduction Welcome to Plant Parenthood 9

Part 1 The Best Care Begins at Home 13

Help Me Grow: Raising Your Sprouts Right 14

Preparing the Nursery 15

You Are My Sunshine 17

Comfy and Cozy 20

Tuck Me In 22

Feed Me: Nourishing Healthy Plants 27

Wetting Your Plants 27

Feeding Time 30

Love Me: Wellness Checks and Milestones 34

Practice Good Grooming 34

Watch for Signs of Trouble 35

Growing Up So Fast 40

Expanding the Family 42

Part 2 Introducing the Plants A to Z 47

African violets 48

Agaves 50

Aloe 52

Amaryllises 54

Anthuriums 56

Arrowhead plant 58

Asparagus ferns 60

Baby's tears 62

Banana plants 64

Begonias 66

Bonsai 68

Boston fern 70

Bromeliads 72

Blushing bromeliad 74

Urn plant, silver vase plant 74

Bulbs, corms, and tubers 75

Caladium, elephant's ears 76

Calla lilies 77

Daffodils, paperwhites 77

Easter lily 78

Freesia 79

Grape hyacinths 79

Hyacinths 79

Tulips 80

Cacti 81

Ball cacti 83

Peruvian apple cactus 83

Pincushion cactus, powder puff cactus 83

Rat's tail cactus 84

Sea urchin cacti 84

Calatheas 85

Cape primroses 87

Cast iron plant 89

Chinese evergreen 91

Christmas cacti 93

Citrus 95

Calamondin orange 96

Kumquat 97

Meyer lemon 97

Croton 98

Cryptanthus 100

Date palms 102

Dieffenbachias, dumb cane 104

Dracaenas 106

Echeverias 108

English ivy 110

False aralia 112

Ferns 114

Bird's nest fern 116

Brake fern, ribbon fern, table fern 116

Button fern 116

Holly fern 117

Maidenhair fern 117

Polypody fern, hare's foot fern 118

Rabbit's foot fern, deer's foot fern, squirrel's foot fern 118

Ficus, fig 120

Creeping fig 121

Fiddle-leaf fig 122

Rubber plant 122

Weeping fig 122

Grape ivy 124

Haworthia, zebra plant 126

Inch plant 128

Jade plant 130

Kalanchoes 132

Money tree 134

Monstera, Swiss cheese plant 136

Moth orchids 138

Nerve plant 140

Norfolk Island pine 142

Orchids 144

Cattleya orchids 145

Dancing lady orchids 146

Dendrobium orchids 146

Lady's slipper orchids 146

Palms 147

Fan palm 149

Feather palm 149

Fishtail palm 149

Kentia palm 150

Lady palm 150

Parlor palm 150

Peace lilies 152

Peperomias 154

Philodendrons 156

Bird's nest philodendrons 157

Blushing philodendron 157

Heartleaf philodendron 158

Piggyback plant, mother-of-thousands 159

Pilea, aluminum plant 161

Poinsettia 163

Polka dot plant 165

Ponytail palm 167

Pothos, golden pothos 169

Prayer plant 171

Sago palm 173

Scarlet star 175

Scented geraniums 177

Shamrock plant, false shamrock, oxalis 179

Snake plant 181

Spider plant 183

Spotted laurel 185

Staghorn fern 187

Strawberry begonia 189

Succulents 191

Aeoniums 193

Donkey's tail, burro's tail 193

Living stones, split rocks 194

String of pearls 194

Tiger's jaws 195

Swedish ivy 196

Ti plant 198

Tillandsias, air plants 200

Umbrella tree, schefflera 202

Velvet plant, purple passion 204

Wax plant 206

Yucca 208

ZZ plant 210

Index 212