So I’ve been reading Tovah Martin’s The Unexpected Houseplant, which is the sort of gardening book that makes me want to unpack the rest of my vintage flower pots and fill them with succulents  already.

Paired with Ken Druse’s classic text Making More Plants, Martin’s book is there to help you, if and when you want to get your hands dirty.  Martin does a great job pointing out the toxicity levels of various houseplants (always important when you have pets), as well as the diseases and blights that can plague them.

Here’s the important thing: Tovah Martin is not a gardening snob. She’s given up on prestige houseplants like clivia (I just wish I could get mine to bloom!), and she’s not too proud to grow African violets.

Martin’s lack of snobbery is rather encouraging. Sometimes I’ve felt that if I were really serious about plants, I would be sourcing exotic specimens from obscure online plant specialists and buying myself a vintage terrarium. But Martin’s book showcases quite a few beautiful plants that are sold at the local grocers.

Case in point: Martin shares my fondness for Christmas cactus and jade plants.

(But I doubt she’d let her begonias get as leggy as mine have done.)

Among other things, The Unexpected Houseplant has reminded me how much I love seeing things grow.

Outdoors, my aspens have sprouted fuzzy little catkins, just in time for spring.