Plantopedia

by Lauren Camilleri, Sophia Kaplan

Houseplants have the power to transform any room. With their lush foliage and structural beauty, they help create indoor oases that bring a sense of tranquility to our busy lives. Fostering a connection to plants has many positive implications for us and our environment by strengthening our relationship with the natural world.

In Plantopedia , shortlisted for the 2021 Indie Book Awards, Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan from Leaf Supply present the definitive guide to keeping happy, healthy houseplants in any space. Featuring:

More than 130 plant profiles including foliage plants, succulents and cacti, as well as rarer gems of the plant world.

Detailed care information including troubleshooting tips and tricks to ensure that your houseplants thrive.

Plants for all levels of indoor gardeners, from budding novices to green thumbs and beyond.

Genres: Plants, Nonfiction, Gardening, Reference, Nature, Coffee Table Books, Science

Hardcover

First published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book for anyone shopping for houseplants. The entries are not extensive, so it’s not a good fit for anyone looking to do extensive research on any of the plants. However, it is excellent for anyone looking for the right plant for their home by looking at light and water needs, toxicity for pets, propagation, etc. The photos are in an artistic and dramatic layout that pleases the eye. The plants are listed by both the Latin and common names. There is a visual index arranged by difficulty level, a care index, and a general index. These make it easy to find a plant based on whatever your needs. Excellent book!

[Dorian Jandreau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Šitą knygą pamačiau Tiktok‘e. Ir susižavėjau ja. Neilgai trukus pasitaupiau pinigėlių ir užsisakiau iš Anglijos, nes ši knyga tikrai nepigi. Knygos estetika tiesiog pribloškianti: nuostabios aukštos kokybės nuotraukos, visa stilistika tiesiog saldžiai saldu. Vien jau dėl knygos apipavidalinimo verta ją turėti.

Knygoje aprašomi mums gerai žinomi, ir nelabai, augalai. Aprašymai iš tikrųjų trumpi, bet konkretūs, žinoma ir kiekvieno augalo nuostabios nuotraukos. Gale knygos yra net rodyklės pagal augalų auginimo išmanymą bei pagal priežiūros indeksus. Kiekvienas augalas turi trumpą aprašymą kokiam lygiui priklauso pagal augintojo išmanymą, šviesą, vandenį, žemę, drėgmę, dauginimą, augimo vietą, kur pastatomas ir toksiškumą. Ši trumpa rodyklė prie kiekvieno augalo labai naudinga, nes konkrečiai parodo ar Jūs tinkamas auginti šį augalą ir suteiksite būtinas sąlygas.
Gal norėjosi daugiau informacijos, bet manau jos perteklius būtų padaręs knygą sunkiau suprantamą. O dabar knygoje viskas aišku ir pradedančiajam augintojui.

Rekomenduoju knygą VISIEMS, kas myli augalus. Ją tikrai verta turėti ne vien dėl gerų patarimų, bet ir dėl grožio lentynoje. (Žinau, kad daug knygų graužikų mėgsta estetiką kai tai liečia knygas).

[Anjanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splurged on “”Plantopedia” to finally supplement my Mom’s charming 70’s book about houseplants…in today’s marketplace, quite a few current newbie plants are trending.

Anyway….this book is absolutely beautiful. The photographs are stunning. 🤩

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wanted to know about houseplants, look for this book. It is loaded with clear, concise photos and up-to-date information. I don't have a lot of houseplants in my home but the information I read helped me with what I have.

Direct or indirect light? Keep soil moist or water only when the soil has dried out? Toxicity or pet friendly? Easy to grow or needs extra care? These and many other questions were answered.

And just an FYI. The hardcover is big and heavy. It could be used as a doorstop. I read about the plants I had and then returned it to our library. If I purchase other house plants, I'll take the book out again.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4/5

Was just reading this to pick out the plants that I want in the future, and it was very helpful! A little millennial here and there, but otherwise great

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really beautiful book! Lots of good information for beginners and plant lovers. I will keep coming back to this book as a reference

[Mikie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to give such an extensive book anything other than five stars.

I have some reservations regarding some care advice and the division of care level, and the descriptions do get repetitive after a while. It’s compensated by some great photos, and especially by the stunning illustrations by Edith Rewa (I would gladly buy them as prints if they’re available).

All in all, this is a great coffee table “plant bible”!

[Alba · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about this book. It is beautiful to look at and filled with interesting facts and information. If you are a hardcore houseplant lover, it might feel a bit superficial (but it also covers a ton of different plants!) but still interesting to read and to have. I think it is also one of these books that make a perfect gift for any plant parent in your life.

[ashley]

very good. i bought this as a gift and wanted to read through it before and it was very informative on many different topics relating to houseplants. will be buying a copy myself.

[Cheryl Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book because I thought it would help me with my plants!

[Payton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spent time reading the entire thing, so might as well get credit for it 🤣

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the pictures of the plants, as well as the information included - it helped explain why my carnivores kept dying lol (care level: expert)

[Mika Turunen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good encyclopedia for people looking to enter house plant scene. Recommended.

[Lori Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and helpful! A lovely resource for plant lovers!

[Dodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a lot of plants. Calculating mentally, I think it's 25 plants. Plantopedia is really big; not only is it over 400 pages long, it's also a big coffee-table size. It's on heavy paper, so it's a heavy big book. The photography and drawings are beautiful, but the size and weight make it unwieldy to read practically. The information provided consists mostly of very basic material. I would recommend this to someone with no knowledge about plants or someone who wants to look at pretty pictures of plants.

[Jennifer G · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed with this book. I wish it had either concentrated on broad care for various species or details on specific varieties. It didn't really cover much of anything. The pictures were pretty; I'd consider this a coffee table book. As far as a definitive guide to houseplants? It's way too vague and lacked identifying a lot of common houseplants.

[Megan Abel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for new plant owners. I have around 20 plants in my bedroom and this was a great way to learn about their care needs. Beautiful photos too!

[Kaley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has so many beautiful pictures & different species of plants. It’s my favorite plant book 😁

[bookwormnicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8⭐️
This book is for sure aesthetically pleasing with beautiful photos and illustrations, and it is very good quality and well-made.
But for me personally, lacked a few things. The information about the plants were very limited and just the basics.
Also it lacked a lot of plants and varieties that people have the most in their homes and that I wanted to read about the most. No Anthurium Clarinervium, Crystallinum. No Alocasia Dragon varieties nor Frydek. No Marantas.
There was some good part of Syngoniums, Monsteras, Begonias, and carnivorous plants and a big chunk about Philodendrons that I was happy about, but I think the selection in the other plants were not so good. (There was no mention about Florida, Florida Beauty/Ghost either that I wanted to have more information about). Instead of the succulents they could have put more exotic and jungle plants, but this is just my opinion. In some cases it seemed like they put the less interesting plants from a genus into this book that not so many people have.

My understanding is that this is one of the most popular houseplant book out there right now for exotic plant lovers/owners who already have some experience.
But for me, only to use less than half of the book, it seems a bit overpriced.

With all that said, if you want a beautiful coffee table book about plants, this is for you.

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty well versed on the different types of houseplants, so I was a little disappointed in this one. This book is beautiful, but would be better off for a beginner. There aren't many pictures of each type of plant, and the information is very minimal. I love cacti and succulents, but was disappointed to see a large portion of the back of the book dedicated to them. It's almost impossible to grow the cacti and succulents that were listed inside (99% of them grow outside. You would have to have a TON of direct sun inside your house to even have some success growing them indoors) I've tried growing a lot of them indoors, but it's just too dark and doesn't work. I was also disappointed in the dracena, philodendron and many other sections where there are hundreds of different types of the species, but only 2 are highlighted with one picture each. I was hoping to find pictures and descriptions of varieties I hadn't seen before, but unfortunately found nothing new. Instead of large astetically pleasing pictures of 1 or 2 varities of a species, the book would have been better off with multiple smaller pictures so more could be featured. I'm glad I got this one from the library.

[Desarae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful AND useful book! This is one that would be worth owning. Gorgeous, detailed photographs of the plants with their name, care tips, and descriptions on each one. Plants are divided into families/types, and each new section has a beautiful illustration to start it off! In the back, plants are arranged from ease of care to most difficult, very helpful when buying plants; there is also as index that makes it easy to find what you are needing. Great design and set up, reference wise. Not exhaustive, by any means, but it covers a lot of common plants or at least their families, a great reference that is also a luscious table book and work of art.

I did not actually read every single plant entry of this book, but I did read through a all of the beginning intro and history, and a good chunk of the plants.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. For something so big it held a lot of nothing. Everything was very...minimal. It should have had some decent detail on care, whether by specific plants or sweeping broadly. Maybe a chart or 2 or 10 where plants could be assigned a number or something to go check the care in the chart? I don't know.

All I know is for a plant-opedia, it missed huge chunks of unique plants that just weren't featured at all. They didn't bother covering some of their plants' common name(s). There was broad, generally not-to-helpful info for each plant they do feature. The only thing it had going for it was the pictures. Those were nice.

Huge miss. I wouldn't recommend for anyone but a newbie or as something to flip through and look at the 'pretty' pictures.

[Sarah Dunmire · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was really well-written. Very culturally and environmentally conscious authors. The introduction was helpful in understanding the coding, like experience level, watering needs, and toxicity level. Having the toxicity code was really helpful as a cat mom. And also meant that a lot of those plants aren’t possible to have at home, darn it. Here are the ones I’d like to have!
Hoya linearus
Pilea—Silver Sprinkles (I mean, even just the name!)
Calathea lietzei (peacock plant)
Fittonia albivenus (nerve plant)
Peperomia argyreia (watermelon peperomia)
Sedum morganianum (donkey’s tail)

[holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the more attractive houseplant books. while thorough, there were quite a few plants that I expected to see featured that weren't in there. I also have a little bit of a laugh at all houseplant books with difficulty levels listed because I think there's so much variability with plants people have an easy time with vs. plants that people have a hard time with (beyond, like, carnivorous plants and certain alos) that it's kind of pointless to try to draw a distinction between novice and intermediate plants. anyway, nevermind all of that. it's overall a very pretty book.

[Gianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s mostly ~ 2 paragraph long blurbs about many common houseplants. It also contains a key with information such as light requirements, water requirements, soil preference, humidity, how to propagate, positioning, etc. All of this is great, but the index earned it five stars. It is indexed by EVERYTHING: light, humidity, water, growth, and toxicity to pets. You can easily cross index and find a trailing plant that does well in low light and isn’t toxic to pets. Plus, the illustrations are beautiful. And now I want a condom plant, among many others.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the title Plantopedia: The Definitive Guide..... - I was really hoping for lots of detailed information about a multitude of plants. This is a very nicely laid out, attractive book about houseplants - pretty to look at but not much depth. There is a real trend in publishing books about houseplants and I have read MANY of them. This one offered nothing unique or special to make it stand out or worth the purchase price.

[Kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this one are beyond stunning and the photos are just so gorgeous. I found myself lost in just how visually beautiful this book is.

But it also is a fantastic reference to have on hand when trying to learn about various species of plants or what makes some more difficult than others.

I’m going to buy this one to have just because it is so helpful.

I’d recommend to a friend for sure!!

[Vfields Don't touch my happy! · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this one from the library-it’s a beauty. Being a crazy intense home horticulturalist I promised myself I would read two to four books on basic home growing plant information at the beginning of this new year. I realize the plant community is changing at fast rate and new plants are appearing on the market and accessible sometimes within a year. So some plants in this book that were considered exotic are now common. The information was definitely usable, applicable, and necessary.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful addition to any plant lover's bookshelf. I wish it went a little further into the variations of each plant, but it would easily double in size, so it's understandable that it sticks to the basics. I think it is a great tool for identifying house plants as well as researching what plant would be best for a particular space. This book also includes a difficulty level for care and maintenance. The aesthetic of the book is very pleasing, with clear pictures and easy to read text.

[The Sapphic Nerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has everything I'm looking for as someone who wants to familiarize herself with different types of house plants and know when I see one at a store if I should attempt to buy and care for it. The layout is easy to read, with photos of each of the plants and, most conveniently, an ease of care level!