Book Review: Selecting ‘The Indestructibles’
Posted in From the Library, Shop/Book Reviews on February 22 2016, by Lansing Moore
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
The staff of the Plant Information Office in the Mertz Library are always excited to see a new book from Tovah Martin. Martin has written over a dozen gardening books, drawing from her 25 years of gardening experience to craft classics as well as new favorites. The Library has eighteen books authored or coauthored by Martin, and this month we have added her newest work—The Indestructible Houseplant from Timber Press—to our collection. The Indestructible Houseplant was written for beginners, but experienced gardeners will also enjoy the beauty and advice contained in this well-crafted volume.
Martin starts The Indestructible Houseplant with an accessible yet lyrical introduction that welcomes the “window-sill gardener wannabes,” telling them that this book is for them. Martin promises to help readers overcome obstacles—cost, time, light/environment—and develop their own “lush and verdant” interior paradises. Martin writes about her home gardening environment and then moves into practical guidelines for understanding limitations of indoor space, including selecting and placing containers. Here, too, her prose is crisp, accessible, and practical; Martin even includes a section about her selection process for plants to profile, addressing the omission of some historic houseplant favorites, such as flowering maples, Abutilon cultivars.