Urban Botanics

Urban Botanics is a calm and beautifully illustrated short book by Emma Sibley and Maaike Koster, from Quarto Publishing - Aurum Press.  Although it's only 160 pages, half the page count is taken up by the gorgeous watercolors of illustrator Maaike Koster.  The rest of the pages are given over to the accompanying descriptions and culture tips for the more than 75 houseplants.  Though most of the included plants are relatively common houseplants, there are some surprises included (Epipremnum aureum for example; a lovely plant and one that is widely ignored in the floral trade).

I wasn't sure what to expect from a plant handbook with watercolor illustrations instead of photographs, but the result is lush and beautiful, even better than it would have been with photography in my opinion.

The book is available in ebook and hardcover formats and was released 14 Sept, 2017.

It's worth noting that the Amazon description for this book incorrectly lists the illustrations in the book blurb next to descriptions for other plants which are also included in the collection.  The descriptions and illustrations are correct in the actual book.

Really beautiful illustrations, reassuring and accessible short culture tips.  Well worth a look.

Four stars

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.