Portfolio: Houseplants serve as her home decor

"Give plants a chance. Live intimately with them," Martin writes, and it's clear from Kendra Clineff's beautiful photos that she does.

Martin recounts the history of houseplants, which became popular and successfully grown in the 19th century with better indoor heating - and she suggests plants that do well indoors in every season. The photo of the snow-white cyclamen will make you eager for winter.

And she has, as promised, a lot of surprises. Martin grows moss indoors and small-leaf coleus, as well as hellebores, heucheras, bleeding heart, and Icelandic poppies.

Is there anything this woman can't grow? Actually, yes.

In the spirit of full disclosure, which is refreshing in the world of garden books, Martin includes a chapter called "Love Thwarted." Here, she discloses her troubles with abutilon, bougainvillea, heliotrope, and tropical hibiscus.

Not a bad track record, given the wide array of successes cataloged in this book. And thank you, Tovah, for nailing the "I don't have a green thumb" excuse as a rationale for horticultural attention deficit disorder.

"If you failed to give your pets food, water, and care, they would suffer," she writes. "Same thing happens with your plants."

- Virginia A. Smith