Indoor Green: Living with Plants

Beautiful book!

I saw this book at my local library and didn’t hesitate to pick it up. I brought it home with me, fully expecting to fall in love, love, love…but it was actually kind of disappointing.There are a ton of pictures of plants in this book, obviously, but the author’s main focus is actually the plant owners. Claffey devotes a lot of space to her interviews with each homeowner, most of them artists and designers living in Australia, Japan, and New York. The interviews are interesting enough, but 200 pages of small font question-answer–question-answer seems like overkill to me. I genuinely enjoy reading about how other people love their plants and feel more at peace and connected to the world because of them, but the book starts to drag around the halfway point. I just needed more variety.It doesn’t help that the photography is lackluster, at best. I get the feeling that many of the spaces photographed for this book are probably stunning in real life, but the photos don’t do them justice. The pictures are dark and lifeless–and I can’t even believe how many are backlit! What’s the point of snapping a photo of a gorgeous plant…with a bright light source directly behind it? I don’t want to see a million pictures of shadowy leaves. It’s weird. And though there are definitely some better pics in the book, I just wasn’t feeling it. I couldn’t get past the coldness.So. Not my favorite. But if you’re looking for a beautiful book featuring flowers and plants, I’d recommend:The Indestructible Houseplant: 200 Beautiful Plants that Everyone Can GrowUrban Jungle: Living and Styling with PlantsThe Flower Workshop: Lessons in Arranging Blooms, Branches, Fruits, and Foraged MaterialsSucculents: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Designing, and Growing 200 Easy Care Plants (Sunset)

Out of all the currently circulating books on indoor plants and interiors this is actually my favourite. Yes, like the other reviewer said it does focus on individual stories of plant lovers' journey into living with plants and even more so, their artistic and creative side. It's just an angle and I think it's great. Quite different from the books available around these days. I did find all the Japanese stories particularly inspiring. I would have given five plus stars if not for one factor I found irritating - the fact that the author's own business is being promoted or otherwise mentioned almost in every section of the book. I think mentioning it in the introduction would have largely sufficed.I found the photos great by the way, with the real "feel" of the place.

As a plant collector with nearly 100 plants myself, I love books showing how people arrange their plants in their homes, particularly books that show large collections of plants in conservatories and sunrooms, so I was excited to see this book at my local library. There were some amazing plant collections included in Indoor Green, especially those in the conservatory of a Hungarian-Australian in Melbourne, in the Brooklyn studio of a textile artist, and in the whole house designed around an indoor garden, also in Melbourne. However, most of the plant collection portraits were of ordinary apartments containing fewer than twenty plants, and some of the apartments were tiny spaces crammed with other items -- a realistic depiction of urban life, but not something that necessarily photographs well or looks botanically appealing.However, the book was still interesting to read -- some of the plant enthusiasts made thought-provoking observations about their plant hobbies, and I learned some useful information about a number of plants that were featured in the book: I had never seen photos of a variegated ficus before (now I must have one...) and I was fascinated by the history of the mysterious Chinese money plant (Pilea peperomoides), which is now apparently a trendy "must-have" plant. Also, it was fun to see how people live in Australia, read the references to their common names for plants which differ from our American common names, and realize that north-facing windows are the sunny ones Down Under. All in all, I'm glad I've had the opportunity to read this book.

Don't get this if you want nitty gritty details or information, but as a source of inspiration and stories, it is a fantastic resource.

Cadeau idéal pour les plantes

das Buch ist schön. Warzwar nicht eingepackt und der Cover auch etwas gebogen. Würde das Buch an Pflanzenliebhaber weiter empfehlen.

もちろんすべて英文ですが、見ているだけで不思議と幸せになれる写真集です。日本のお宅も幾つか掲載されていますが、特に素敵だなと思うのはオーストラリアのお宅ばかり(笑)空間の広さが羨ましいです(笑)しかし、それぞれ皆さんの植物との距離が素敵で、眺めているだけで幸せな気分になります。