Taming the Potted Beast
The Strange and Sensational History of the Not-So-Humble Houseplant
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The colorful, peculiar history of the houseplant—from ancient Rome to Victorian England to Instagram—a botanical adventure full of histrionic highs, devastating lows, and sensational turning points along the way.
From the hanging gardens of Babylon to that fiddle-leaf fig in your living room, houseplants have been humanity's companions for a millennia. Taming the Potted Beastexplores the history of our air-purifying friends with an entertaining narrative of the peculiar, often dramatic story of the cultivation and domestication of the not-so-humble houseplant.
Including entertaining historical vignettes, DIY plant projects, and accessible tips and tricks for caring for your own historical houseplant collection, this book has any plant-curious reader covered. Readers will come away with practical projects, expert advice, and an understanding of the historical significance of houseplants as well as an appreciation of the cultures from which they emerged.
Both fascinating and fun, Taming the Potted Beast will take readers on exhilarating botanical adventure through the ages.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Apartment Therapy contributor Williams (Killer Plants) unearths "the little-known, peculiar history of the houseplant" in this entertaining outing. Her delightful narrative takes readers from the mythical hanging gardens of Babylon in 605 BCE to the present day, when rare houseplants sell for thousands of dollars and "plantfluencers" post glamorous pictures of fiddle-leaf figs on Instagram. After Christopher Columbus fueled botanical exports by kick-starting triangular trade routes, plants and crops such as tobacco, corn, and cocoa moved between Europe, the Americas, and Africa, and rare plants became synonymous with wealth. However, houseplants weren't always frivolous or for pleasure—many historical anecdotes show having a green thumb was practical, as when medicinal herbs took precedence in the Middle Ages and when the U.S. government encouraged people to grow "victory gardens" during WWII. In addition to the charming history, Williams offers plenty of tips for would-be growers: there are DIY projects for building a terrarium and blooming bulbs indoors; ethical plant buying tips (asking sellers where their plants originate is a good idea, and it's best to use extra caution when buying a "rare" plant); plant profiles; and houseplant care 101. This is as informative as it is fun.
