by Thalassa Cruso
Friendly and informative sums up Thalassa Cruso's book about houseplant care and propagation. She starts off with the basics, and I was abashed to learned I've been doing so many things wrong it's a wonder all my houseplants haven't keeled over! For instance, I never even thought about the difference between using clay and plastic pots, and I had never heard of crocking them to improve the drainage. That's just a sample of the very abundant, useful and practical advice in Making Things Grow, everything from how to properly water and feed your plants, to getting rid of pests, repotting, growing new plants from seeds or cuttings, and how to keep them going solo if you're on vacation. I now have a nice list of plants that are reliably recommended to do well in my low-lit, evenly heated house, and have learned the identity of many familiar ones that my mother grew or that I've seen around in public buildings, always recognizing their faces but never knowing their names. If you have any houseplants, or want to get started keeping a few, this book is invaluable.I acquired this book free from the Book Thing. I'm counting it towards my Dogeared challenge, as it has quite a few tears on the covers.
Rating: 4/5 ........ 257 pages, 1969
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the Tales, Tips and Techniques of Traditional Gardening
anyone else?
I need this because I usually kill things! I do have a Christmas cactus that I've had for over 2 years, but I don't think you can kill those things.
ReplyDeleteI tend to ignore my house plants, but they don't seem to mind. Most of them are years and years old.
ReplyDeleteLove your header. :-)
Bermudaonion- I've never had a christmas cactus, only seen pictures. She says they're very hardy!
ReplyDeleteJanet- well, you must have some very sturdy ones. Mine don't like being neglected.
My aunt bought me an unkillable plant, and after two months it started to die. I tried to get my sister's gardener boyfriend to adopt it, and INSTEAD he explained he was going to fix the plant for me and let me take care of it, and he did some stuff to it and gave me instructions; and then I killed it anyway. So I have given up.
ReplyDeleteJenny- O dear. Maybe you should try cactus? I've killed every cacti I had, for some reason I don't do well with them. But they might be the right plant for you! (and some have beautiful flowers)
ReplyDelete