Lovely and creative plant books to enjoy and be inspired by + free plant stickers printable
House plants are the refreshing touch of green and life in any room. Sometimes though, we love to admire them but are totally uninspired or lacking in the natural skill to make use of them to their full advantage.
I often laugh that I married a green thumb horticulturalist while I can kill even a cactus. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love seeing clusters of green plants with their variety of tones and shapes. The lush pots of overflowing greenery just make me sigh a relaxed breath and feel happier.
Just….I feel so totally devoid of any skill in arranging, using, decorating, or maintaining those lovely living things.
In looking for inspiration, these 5 books keep getting repeatedly checked out the library at our house. I hope you find your inspiration from them. Maybe even a little relaxing sigh just to look through them.
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5 House Plant Books + Bonus
Plant Craft by Caitlin Atkinson
Plant Craft is organized in 4 categories: Build, Craft, Mount, Plant. It includes a handy reference chart for identifying common plant problems and which plants are best for which projects, a good idea for people like me. With an eclectic mix of natural found branches and textures from nature, this book is filled with lovely inspiration on unique ways to display greenery. Ranging from living wall design to simple display bowls, this book is beautiful to look through.
The Complete Book of Ferns by Mobee Weinstein
I absolutely love ferns. Those delicate lacy shapes and full plants just seem so happy and approachable. This book is truly a complete look at fern botany, lifecycle, soil, and care. It also includes is a handy chart for symptoms and causes and a large common house ferns encyclopedia. Terrariums, vertical gardens, kokedama balls, moss baskets, and fern art are just a sample of the projects included in this book.
The Inspired House Plant by Jen Stearns
This handy book has sections on desert plants, temperate plants, tropical plants, and aquatic plants. I appreciate the how-to on plant care, watering, pruning, and feeding through a streamlined clean book layout. Some of the plant projects included in this book range from bowl gardens, container water gardens, hanging gardens, and vertical vines. There is even a section on indoor planter kitchen gardens from root vegetables, herbs. The inspiration flows with a plant style section of room décor samples.
House Plants the Complete Guide by Lisa Eldred Steinkopf
This book is more technical then the other plant project and décor books listed. The first half is a plant care manual for watering, fertilizing, lighting, containers, pests, diseases. The second half starts with a superb picture chart easy reference for easy-to-grow plant that the visual person like myself will appreciate. This is followed by a clean minimalist style encyclopedia of each plant.
The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual by Barbara Pleasant
This is a total care guide for over 160 indoor plants for those of us who have no clue how to actually care for those lovely green things that we admire. With handy alphabetical listings of common house plants with how-to guides for each, this is a reference book for all plant lovers out there to avoid killing them off. This is not a décor project book but a knitty gritty get your fingernails dirty sort of book that is necessary for the serious plant orchestrator.
Bonus: The Language of Flowers by Sheila Pickles
Did you know that in the past, flowers were assigned certain unspoken messages? In the Victorian era, flowers conveyed a whole language of meaning in a time of excruciating manners. Today, we don’t usually tend to think of any hidden meanings per se. But, think about it– if a certain handsome someone gave you a bouquet of red roses, there is a certain hint of meaning in it of romantic interest. We tend to gravitate subconsciously to a few flower choices we automatically understand have a hint of a message.
Sometimes, we just plain want a beautiful posy for our dining room table to brighten up the room. This book is one of the most beautiful looks into the world of past flower meanings for all fresh flower bouquet lovers. I have had this books for decades and still love looking at it.
