Taming the Potted Beast: The Strange and Sensational History of the Not-So-Humble Houseplant

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 Beast explores 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.

Molly Williams is the author of Killer Plants: Growing and Caring for Flytraps, Pitcher Plants and Other Deadly Flora and she writes regularly for Apartment Therapy's gardening and horticulture section. She grew up on a flower farm and is now a professor of writing in New England.

Andrews McMeel Publishing

Pub Date: September 13, 2022

0.82" H x 9.3" L x 6.1" W

272 pages

Hardcover