plant life

I've borrowed Indoor green by Bree Claffey from the library again, I love it so much. When I first saw it I was a little disappointed as I thought it was about plant care and had information on which plants to buy etc. It does a bit of that but it's so much more - how to live with plants, how to arrange them, how they can purify the air in your house and influence your well being. It's full of lovely interviews with people who share their love of plants. It's such a pleasurable read. If you're interested in houseplants then this is the book for you.

Since yesterday I have two new plants - a maidenhair fern and a string-of-pearls. I love how delicate the maidenhair is with its thin leaves that seem to tremble with any air movement. I especially love the little dots (actually spore/seeds) on the edges of the leaves. The string-of-pearls is a succulent with really odd adaptation. It's a desert plant and its leaves are round to conserve water. Compared to a regular flat leaf the round shape has less of its surface area exposed and so has reduced surface evaporation. However, the downside is that it also reduces the area available for light absorption and so it's developed a little window (the line that you can see running down each "pearl") to let the light in. How cool is that?

Reading: Indoor green: living with plants by Bree Claffey from Mr Kitly