The House Plant Encyclopedia (ISBN 1552090272)

Good, but not GREAT!!:
Although the book is comprehensive and has many tips on house plants, I only found 3 out of 25 plants in my house in this book. The photo section of this book is lovely, but it is titled "The most beautiful plants from A to Z" and does nothing for people like me with mostly all green house plants. Most of these plants they reference are blooming and floral. Make sure you know what you're looking for before you purchase this book!!

Most comprehensive house plant book out there!:
This book is absolutely the most comprehensive house plant book out there. It covers almost every topic I can conceive of and then some. There are pages devoted to not only propagating plants, but also watering (quality, temperature method), repotting and caring for your plants. Not only is there a detailed section on pests and diseases, the book also contains recipes on how to rid your plants of these maladies. If you are a serious gardener, you will appreciate the descriptions of soil types for different plants and the recipes for a variety of potting soils. Besides the plant basics, the authors cover how to create beautiful plant groupings. There are suggestions for how to plant baskets and containers with a variety of plants. Lots of useful ideas! The best part of the book is the plant listing section. Literally hundreds of plants have detailed information about care, light requirements and propagation. Each listing has color photos and many have special tips out in the margins (for quick reference). The authors have also included watering, light and fertilization symbols so you can see the plant's requirements at a glance. I love houseplants, and I really love this book. It has just about everything in it. I have been known to just sit and page through it. I highly recommend this book!

There are better books on houseplants:
I checked this book out of the library. About one third of the book is general information that is only so-so. There are supposed to be 1000 different plants described. There may be if you count every plant named in the descriptions, but there are probably not 500 actual different plants. I counted about half of the plant and there were only 200 different plants. The care instructions are so general that they are almost the same for all of the plants. "Keep moderately moist, drier in the winter." I read the instructions for several houseplants that I have and know; I didn't think their information was very accurate. This book appears to be a good book at first glance. The pictures are nice, but a lot of books have good pictures. It is a large book, but it doesn't have specific information on growing houseplant. There are so many aspects to growing houseplants, sun, water, temperature, soil, summer and winter care and much more. It says the same things over and over again, that you would think you can grow all houseplants the same. I have seen a lot of books for beginners that are more accurate than this book. I would not recommend this book. If you really want this book, check it out of the library first.

Basic guide to house and "patio" gardening:
This book provides me with little more information about its plants than would be provided upon a visit to the nursery, i.e. low light, moderate water, watch out for this or that pest... Not what I was hoping for. However, it does give a picture of every plant it lists (awesome). Also, I expected to find a book that strictly regards houseplants. Maybe I missed it in the description, but the "Houseplant Encyclopedia" includes plants like calla lillies- a plant that could be grown indoors, I'm sure, but isn't likely. Includes a good range of plants, including most of the houseplants I have cared for, and will occasionally offer some short description of natural history, which is also fun and interesting. 3 stars pretty much because it wasn't what I expected/hoped for. Otherwise, decent, but not amazing book.

Disapointing:
I bought this book to use as a reference on houseplants for a project concerning ease of maintenance for the most beneficial plants. I find it missing over half of the plants that I needed for the project.