Landscaping Indoors (ISBN 1889538183)

Bamboo Garden here I come!:
On the design side, this book succeeds very well, there's all kinds of information here about indoor garden design elements and practices including four design plans. One nice feature of this book is it's emphasis on historical gardening practices, especially those of the Victorians (there's even a list of rare book dealers specializing in botanical history at the end of the book in case you wish to see what your great-great-grandparents were reading). Included here are terrariums, Wardian cases and water gardening, each with a picture right out of garden books from the 1860's. The most intriguing entry in this section is "The Epiphyte Tree" -- a branch or log on which you grow epiphytes (plants such as tillandsias, hoyas, certain orchids and bromeliads, that grow on other plants). I thought the second section of the book ("Plant Specifics") was the most interesting. Here we learn how to create and care for six specific types of gardens (Palm, Bamboo, Indoor Orangerie, Cacti and Other Succulents, Ficus and Fern). It would never have occurred to me to make an bamboo garden but judging from the pictures, this plant makes a terrific addition to anyone's indoor garden. Each of these sections has growing requirements plus a list of the best plants for indoors. The last chapter in this section lists other landscape plants including Aralia, Schefflera, Norfolk Island Pine, Dracaena and Cordyline, Spathiphylum (ie, Peace Lily), Yucca, Podocarpus, Aspidistra, Philodendron and Grape Ivy. The last section has basic cultivation instructions (soil mixes, pots, fertilizers, watering, light requirements and biological pest control). The chapter I found most useful was that explaining how foot-candles and wattage are calculated and giving alternative sources of indoor lighting. This is followed by a bibliography, an extensive list of suppliers (including web addresses!) and the index. A very interesting and useful book at a very reasonable price.