Taming the Potted Beast: The Strange and Sensational History of the Not-So-Humble Houseplant

＂From the hanging gardens of Babylon to that fiddle-leaf fig in your living room, from Victorian England to modern-day Instagram, houseplants have been humanity’s adored companions for a millennia. Taming the Potted Beast explores the history of our air-purifying friends with a tale of the unexpected, often dramatic, cultivation and domestication of the not-so-humble houseplant. With historical vignettes, DIY plant projects, and plenty of accessible tips and tricks for caring for your own historical houseplants, Taming the Potted Beast takes readers on a botanical adventure through the ages, entertaining and enlightening plant lovers as they discover the historical significance of houseplants, and the cultures form which they emerged＂--

Molly Williams is the author of Killer Plants: Growing and Caring for Flytraps, Pitcher Plants and Other Deadly Flora and she writes regularly for Apartment Therapy’s gardening and horticulture section. She grew up on a flower farm and is now a professor of writing in New England.