Houseplants for a Healthy Home: 50 Indoor Plants to Help You Breathe Better, Sleep Better, and Feel Better All Year Round

by Jon Vanzile

This A-to-Z guide illuminates the numerous health benefits of 50 common, easy-to-grow houseplants along with detailed care instructions and beautiful illustrations of each plant.

With plant-scaped rooms popping up all over Pinterest, style blogs, and home décor magazines, houseplants are the hottest home accessory right now—and for good reason. Plants are a quick and easy way to add life, color, and texture to any indoor space. But houseplants offer so much more than just visual interest to a room. They can purify the air, reduce stress, improve sleep—and much more!

Houseplants for a Healthy Home explains the specific health and wellness benefits of 50 common, easy-to-grow, and popular houseplants, while introducing you to new favorites bound to brighten your life. You will find an A-to-Z guide of a variety of the plants that includes a beautiful illustration of each plant, along with the plant’s health benefits and clear, detailed care instructions. Let Houseplants for a Healthy Home lead you to a life in full bloom.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Plants, Nature, Reference, Education, Adult

128 pages, Hardcover

Published May 1, 2018

Reviews

[Sarah Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually quite an excellent book for someone like me who can't remember anything she learns about plants but wants so quick info on trying to decide what houseplants to try and not kill this time around. It lists 50 plants, some of which are medicinal and some that can not be consumed but are very good for helping purify your air. I do wish the book had broken them down into these two sections vs having the plants in alphabetical order. I found that after awhile the air purifying plants sounded redundant with the information given. I did like that every plant had a bit of info on type of light, watering expectations, tips and if they were harmful to animals or to ingest yourself. I do wish there was a bit more information on propagation especially for the plants that are medicinal, at what point have I used them up or can they keep reproducing, etc.?

[Prince William Public Libraries]

This is a very cute book of 50 indoor houseplants that aren't just beautiful, they're beneficial.

Did you know that Boston Ferns reduce airborne toxins or that Banana Plant leaves are good for your skin? These are just a few of the fun facts you'll learn about houseplants and health benefits. Each plant is illustrated and a description includes potential size, growing tips and how the plant may contribute to better health.

Perfect little guide to help anyone choose and care for a houseplant with benefits.

~Denise F.

Clink the link below to find the book and check availability at the Prince William County Public Library System:
http://librarycatalog.pwcgov.org/pola...

[Samantha Kurtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative read for any houseplant lover. Easy to follow. A bit repetitive in some areas, but I loved how it explained the health benefits of each plant. I probably won’t use many of my plants for medicinal purposes (mostly cause I’m lazy and I have a strong attachment to my plants) but I am super curious about making basil tea.

I read previous reviews on this book stating that it doesn’t provide information about whether each plant is toxic to animals, but it definitely states when the plant is.

Also I love the index! One can easily look up plants by categories: plants that increase daytime oxygen, promote healthy sleep, etc. I love how simple it is to find a plant that fits the health needs/wants of the reader.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great reference book. I checked it out from the library and then ended up deciding to purchase it. Besides an in depth look at 50 popular house plants there are watering tips, soil recommendations, and an extremely helpful glossary.

[Lindsey Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but vague

Really just a collection of short blurbs about each plant named with a little information on their usefulness. Nice illustrations, but the key information about how to care for each plant is still vague. Water weekly? That should depend on lighting conditions. Low light and bright light is never explained either. Good idea, just not enough detail to be useful for new plant owners.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Information presented in this book is super basic, generalized, and has no sources listed for all the health claims the author makes about these plants. Some claims are pretty harmless, like 'cleans the air,' "traps particles," etc. BUT when you are making claims about it helping and/or curing something like cancer, ulcers, skin conditions, etc there should be some creditable sources cited SOMEWHERE. But there isn't, so please take any information you gather from this book with a grain of salt.

All pictures of plants are hand drawn. Pretty, but makes it a little harder to see the identifying features of some of the plants.

I don't know if I would recommend this, even as a beginner book, because I wouldn't want someone taking the author at his word and ingesting something that could be harmful above certain quantities because there are no actual guidelines on how much of these "ingested this plant -" is too much or if there could be harmful side effects. I guess I was expecting something a little more...scientific. Instead it's just a dude the publishing company decided to call a "master gardener." What qualifies someone as a master gardener anyway? Being popular enough to feature in some magazines and stuff. No actual credentials given. Excellent.

[Laurie Fieldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a brief overview of various medicinal and air cleansing household plants with their scientific and common names, start with this. Before using anything for medicinal purposes, consider further research.

Maybe a bit short on details but fun color coding with the light, water, and ideal temperature for growing and maintaining. The 'How to Care for Your Houseplants' section is more descriptive: basic gardening tools to have on hand, clarification of different fertilizers with a handy 'Helpful Terms to Know' that reads like your high school biology textbook glossary.

Easy format for quick reference, as it's in alphabetical order by common name, with delightful illustrations and alphabetical order in the Health Benefits Appendix.

****p.s. The Author does reference whether some plants are harmful to animals: Chinese Evergreen, Chinese Jade Plant, Dracaena deremensis: 'Janet Craig', 'Warneckii'; Dracaena fragrans
'Massangeana', Dracaena marginata; Goethe Plant, etc. Typically noted in the last sentence or two under 'Health Benefits.'

Happy, healthy planting.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hoped this would be more helpful than it was. The information presented is very, very basic. My main beef with this book? WHY ARE THERE NO PHOTOS?! It's a beautiful book, and the illustrator should be proud of her work, but the author or possibly editor should have realized that a book like this would benefit more from photos. The book is geared towards an audience with no presumed experience with houseplants, and then presented with illustrations that in many cases aren't going to be sufficient to differentiate between several commonly available houseplants. Oh, and there's no index, so if you aren't familiar with the name the author's using, tough luck.

[Colin Winkler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whisked this one off the library display.

Seemingly a repeat of Dr. Wolverton’s How to Grow Fresh Air.

The book itself was punctuated by colorful illustrations of the listed houseplants as well as offerings of medicinal anecdotes.

Easy to read, though often repetitious when it came to cultural requirements and harmful chemicals that were treated by these plants.

All in all, a little boost toward wanting to surround oneself with foliage and flowers.

Note: I only read this once. I don’t know why this is set to erroneously display anything but that.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a handy quick reference guide that covers 50 plants suitable for indoor growing and their benefits to human health. Each one has a brief summary and illustration of how it looks and how big it gets as well as its benefits within the home and how to look after it in terms of watering, light etc. I would've liked a note on how easy or otherwise each plant is to look after as I am legendary in my ability to kill houseplants but other than that this is a pretty comprehensive reference guide.

[Lashette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great book. Has a variety of plants including bushes, trees, herbs, and flowers. Various health uses: internally, topical or airborne from different plant parts. And its all simply put but useful information in both the health benefits (that sometimes include preparations) and the how to grow sections. Its rare a book this small has both this much info formatted in such an easy to digest manner.

[Bode Cauthon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My very first book on plants and I completely love it. The pictures are super cute and the short snippets about the different plants are perfect for an aspiring plant parent. I have no clue what I’m doing and having different lighting conditions laid out simply with the ideal temperature and little tips makes it all seem not so daunting as initially thought.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations, but a bit repetitive. It's nice that the plants are catalogued by what they filter best in the back, but I'm really wishing there was a section on how to tell what kind of light is in your space and what plant would thrive there.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice layout, easy to navigate, good illustrations (for those of us who have no idea what an Emerald Gem looks like). I was curious what plants clean the air - and this book answered the question. Thank you very much.

[Gay Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, simple and straight forward information on increasing oxygen levels in your home and filtering out harmful toxins in your air. Especially, helpful for new homeowners and people furnishing their home.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not super detailed but a nice overview of beneficial plants to have in your home with some sweet illustrations.

[Hoshigata · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful “dictionary” of house plants.

[Isa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute, but lacking in information.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might buy this one

[Elaine Jae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avid indoorandOutdoor home gardener

What a great book! Enjoyed reading every page. Learned a lot and picked some plants to buy. Thank you for a lovely book!

[Ruth E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good descriptions and nice bullets about light, watering, etc., however, the text was a bit repetitive.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple descriptions of 50 different types of indoor plants, tips on care, and more. Now I've got a list of plants to look at in a nursery/store for consideration.

[Erica Olson Freund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for a reference guide & knowledge of plants for healthy air in your home.

[Juliana Es · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading it while waiting for hubby's turn for his medical appointment at KPJ Selangor. I love this book. It is concise, on point, and good as a quick reference.

[Cloay · Rating 4 out of 5]

- available in SG NLB 635.965 (Sengkang

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information!

[Miss M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, easy to peruse and use with well drawn illustrations. Good plant reference guide.

[Amanda Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing pictures and easy to digest, bite-size information. Key information on how useful each plant can be for our health. However, would have liked having more care tips for particular plants, and directions on how to pot or propagate. Information is very repetitive and the book could definitely do with more content.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a lovely introduction to the benefits of certain house plants. I only wish the author had included information as to whether or not a plant was toxic to cats and dogs. This information is easily found on the internet, I know, but it would have been nice to have that information included.