Table of Contents
Introduction Welcome to Plant Parenthood 9
Part 1 The Best Care Begins at Home 13
Help Me Grow: Raising Your Sprouts Right 14
Preparing the Nursery 15
You Are My Sunshine 17
Comfy and Cozy 20
Tuck Me In 22
Feed Me: Nourishing Healthy Plants 27
Wetting Your Plants 27
Feeding Time 30
Love Me: Wellness Checks and Milestones 34
Practice Good Grooming 34
Watch for Signs of Trouble 35
Growing Up So Fast 40
Expanding the Family 42
Part 2 Introducing the Plants A to Z 47
African violets 48
Agaves 50
Aloe 52
Amaryllises 54
Anthuriums 56
Arrowhead plant 58
Asparagus ferns 60
Baby's tears 62
Banana plants 64
Begonias 66
Bonsai 68
Boston fern 70
Bromeliads 72
Blushing bromeliad 74
Urn plant, silver vase plant 74
Bulbs, corms, and tubers 75
Caladium, elephant's ears 76
Calla lilies 77
Daffodils, paperwhites 77
Easter lily 78
Freesia 79
Grape hyacinths 79
Hyacinths 79
Tulips 80
Cacti 81
Ball cacti 83
Peruvian apple cactus 83
Pincushion cactus, powder puff cactus 83
Rat's tail cactus 84
Sea urchin cacti 84
Calatheas 85
Cape primroses 87
Cast iron plant 89
Chinese evergreen 91
Christmas cacti 93
Citrus 95
Calamondin orange 96
Kumquat 97
Meyer lemon 97
Croton 98
Cryptanthus 100
Date palms 102
Dieffenbachias, dumb cane 104
Dracaenas 106
Echeverias 108
English ivy 110
False aralia 112
Ferns 114
Bird's nest fern 116
Brake fern, ribbon fern, table fern 116
Button fern 116
Holly fern 117
Maidenhair fern 117
Polypody fern, hare's foot fern 118
Rabbit's foot fern, deer's foot fern, squirrel's foot fern 118
Ficus, fig 120
Creeping fig 121
Fiddle-leaf fig 122
Rubber plant 122
Weeping fig 122
Grape ivy 124
Haworthia, zebra plant 126
Inch plant 128
Jade plant 130
Kalanchoes 132
Money tree 134
Monstera, Swiss cheese plant 136
Moth orchids 138
Nerve plant 140
Norfolk Island pine 142
Orchids 144
Cattleya orchids 145
Dancing lady orchids 146
Dendrobium orchids 146
Lady's slipper orchids 146
Palms 147
Fan palm 149
Feather palm 149
Fishtail palm 149
Kentia palm 150
Lady palm 150
Parlor palm 150
Peace lilies 152
Peperomias 154
Philodendrons 156
Bird's nest philodendrons 157
Blushing philodendron 157
Heartleaf philodendron 158
Piggyback plant, mother-of-thousands 159
Pilea, aluminum plant 161
Poinsettia 163
Polka dot plant 165
Ponytail palm 167
Pothos, golden pothos 169
Prayer plant 171
Sago palm 173
Scarlet star 175
Scented geraniums 177
Shamrock plant, false shamrock, oxalis 179
Snake plant 181
Spider plant 183
Spotted laurel 185
Staghorn fern 187
Strawberry begonia 189
Succulents 191
Aeoniums 193
Donkey's tail, burro's tail 193
Living stones, split rocks 194
String of pearls 194
Tiger's jaws 195
Swedish ivy 196
Ti plant 198
Tillandsias, air plants 200
Umbrella tree, schefflera 202
Velvet plant, purple passion 204
Wax plant 206
Yucca 208
ZZ plant 210
Index 212