Grow in the Dark

This is "to the author/publisher" feedback, not a review. I will post that later on goodreads/amazon.

This book was great! It's so useful.

I don't buy the nonfiction stuff for our library, and, admittedly, we don't buy a lot of stuff like this because it's relatively easy to get at a standard library, but I am recommending at least one physical copy, and a digital copy if we can get one, to the buyer who covers that area. Being LGBTQ in OK frequently means leaving home earlier, and with less support. It can mean limited housing or roommate options. It may just mean a greater impetus to strike out on your own and have control over your space . . . which frequently means shitty apartments. Plants are therapeutic. Shitty apartments have little sun. Plants that don't need sun . . . OMG! This book is amazing!

You're going to have an uphill battle against free info on the web- but this book is well curated, has detailed instructions, and acts almost as a coffee table book itself. It's easy to navigate and understand. If it's at a good price point and you put it in urban markets with the right marketing, it should go far. Maybe get some bloggers to mention it.

Good luck!

This book is so useful for anyone wanting to add plant life to their home but have concerns. It gives solutions to basic problems and identifies the best plants for individual lifestyles.
What I love most of all is the regular summary the book provides and the photos to illustrate points made.

Grow in the Dark is a tutorial for maximizing the use of plants in the home whilst helping them to thrive at less than ideal light levels. There are a number of classic and popular houseplants which can tolerate low lighting. Author Lisa Eldred Steinkopf is a horticulture blogger and plant expert who has turned her authorial attentions to choosing and maintaining low light plants suited to the home.

Due out 7th May 2019 from Quarto on their Cool Springs imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardcover format. The book's introduction covers definitions and moves into a discussion of siting and light levels. There's a clever list of ways to maximize the usefulness of available light and redirect it toward your plants (reflective surfaces such as mirrors), keeping windows clean, etc. There are some really good tips included which I hadn't thought about.

The second and third chapters cover plant nutrients and diseases. The photography throughout the book is good, the troubleshooting photos especially showing different diseases and nutrient deficiencies were very clear and explanatory.

The last section of the book is an alphabetical list of specific plant profiles. The profiles are listed by common name with thumbnails, however the Latin names are included in each listing to avoid confusion. There's a cross-referenced index at the end of the book (with Latin names included) to make specific plants easier to find. The listings are comprehensive and include a color photograph, icons for light and water needs as well as a very useful toxicity listing (for pets/small humans), along with a description of propagation techniques, mature plant size, and other info.

The book is mostly slanted to the urban indoor gardener. For people looking to expand their houseplant horizon past spider plants (Chlorophytum sp.) and snake plants (Sansevieria sp.), this book includes a number of lesser known but worthy plants from which to choose.

It's unclear from the pre-publication information available whether the book will be available in electronic format, but the eARC which was provided for review includes a handy interactive table of contents.

Four stars.

Grow In the Dark by Lisa Eldred Steinkopf is a book about choosing and growing the best plants for a low-light environment.


First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Quarto Publishing Group – Cool Springs Press, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:
This plant guide provides detailed information on lighting, watering, fertilizing, and temperature considerations as well as maintenance issues like re-potting and pest control, before even looking at the many different houseplants suitable for low and medium lighting conditions.

When the actual plants appear in the book, each one shows the common, botanical and cultivar names, as well as light and watering requirements, propagation techniques, and whether they are safe for pets.


My Opinions:
Really good information for the novice and experienced plant lover.

For all of us who have at least some areas where we could use a low-light loving plant, this is a really good guide. I love how the index allows you to search for either the common or the botanical name.

The pictures are beautiful, and this would make an excellent gift.

Recently, I’ve been exploring the amazing ability of plants to purify the air and absorb humidity. Bringing plants indoors has been a habit I have resisted believing it to be a huge effort to keep them healthy. However, the need to prevent damp and remove allergens has made it worth investigating. Light is crucial and spots which are damp aren’t often equally light and so Grow in the Dark by Lisa Eldred Steinkopf seemed to be the logical book to read!

Beginning with the principles of indoor plant benefits and care, the book progresses through accessing the area in which the plants will be living and onto the plants which will best suit the environment. Lisa celebrates the good news that “one houseplant placed every 100 square feet will remove [paint, furniture, carpeting and electronic] chemicals” as well as “if there is enough light in your room to read a book, you have enough to sustain a low-light plant.” She shares how to identify from the deceptive plant label which plants are low-light ones as well as which direction of sun is best for each and watering options.

The book ends with 50 plants that are suited to indoor, low-light living and highlights the level of moisture required as well as if the plant is pet friendly. None of them are floral, they are leafy and that perhaps was my only disappointment in the book. I had hoped for more than greenness indoors and, fortunately, living in medium rather than low light, I should get away with a few flowers indoors!

Practical and easy-to-follow, it is a four out of five on the en-JOY-ment scale! If you are considering indoor plants, this is one to read!

Grow.in the Dark is a informative and interesting book on plants. It gives valuable information and can help people with less lightening in their homes.

This is a great book for those of us who want to grow plants in low-light. This book has the usual tips on watering light, nutrients, pest control and re-potting. What sets it apart are the clever tips to make the most of low-light settings, such as using mirrors to reflect light and keeping reflective surfaces and windows clean. I appreciated the large list of plant profiles and descriptions that tolerate low-light settings. Five stars.

A good look at houseplants and how best to keep them happy and healthy. Lots of big, beautiful images and I even got some good ideas from it!

Not everyone has the luck to have a plethora of light in their home giving them the ability to grow any plants they want. For some, it's geographical location limiting the light; for others, it's a lack of windows or poor window placement hampering great light. This book is a perfect resource for those wanting to still enhance their homes with plant life while lacking ideal growing conditions. Along with offering up good examples of plants that will thrive with minimal light, Steinkopf covers methods for enhancing existing light with additional light sources and mirrors. While I'm lucky to have ample light in my current home, the discussion of light coming from the north-, east-, south- and west-facing windows (and also from skylights) was helpful. There are a lot of books about houseplants available, but this one has a nice twist focusing on low-light conditions.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Cool Springs Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is amazing for the indoor, basement apartment gardener. It tells you how to wring every drop of sun light from the light you do have, whether by using mirrors, or washing your windows. A lot of care went into the recommendations given and the book is full of useful tips. It even features an easy way to duplicate the effects of those self-watering wick containers so you can vacation without worry. If you live in a dark place with limited window space, this is the book you should check out. I know for sure that I'll be referring to it again this season.

Fabulous book both the for the newly motivated to the experienced indoor gardener. The general information at the beginning is really clear, interesting and very easy to read and understand. There is a lot of information with lots of photos and examples. The second part of the book describes the various plants that can be grown indoors with information on light and water requirements, its size and how propagation can be achieved and importantly also if the plant is toxic to pets or humans.
This is a very modern book, beautifully presented and very now.

There is a lot of great information in this book! I found a couple of plants that I want to get for my home. There isn't a lot of natural light at my workplace, so some of these would be great for there as well. This book had a lot of great information and I am looking forward to using it.

As you would guess from the cute title, this book contains an informative directory of houseplants that tolerate low light, complete with information about their care and relevant properties such as toxicity to pets. This plant list is well-presented and nicely laid out. It might have made sense to group plants by type, so that all the ferns appeared together, etc., but the alphabetical order used by the author does make them easy to look up. This section is preceded by some overly long introductory chapters with overly obvious advice on plant care. Some of the content is just silly; for example, we are told that a leaning plant might be "suffering from phototropism," as if that were a problem and not just a natural property of plants. I would skip this material and go straight to the specific plant info. Unfortunately, here the photos don't do justice to the text. The descriptions frequently cite some special property of a plant that makes it interesting or desirable (fuzzy rhizomes, variegated leaf color, flower spike, etc.), but the particular specimens depicted often fail to exemplify these traits (or the photos fail to capture them). Instead, they seem like whatever specimen of that plant somebody happened to have in the house. In addition, although the pots, stands, and walls may be different, each photo is taken the same way: under harsh light with a prominent and distracting shadow on the wall behind it. This book would be helped immensely by photos with better lighting and a closer focus on each plant.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance digital review copy.

Grow in the Dark: How to Choose and Care for Low-Light Houseplants by Lisa Eldred Steinkopf puts the spotlight on 50 of the best houseplants you can grow in your dim or dark apartment. Having a south-facing window doesn’t always guarantee you the best light to grow plants—especially if your window faces an alley or a tree-lined street. What’s the point of growing an urban jungle if tall buildings are blocking all your sunshine? This compact guide, designed to look as good on your shelf as it is useful, will help you learn how to make the most of your light so you can reap the physical and emotional benefits of living with plants. Detailed profiles include tips on watering your plants just right, properly potting them, and troubleshooting pests and diseases. You’ll also learn which plants are safe to keep around your pets.

Grow in the Dark is an informative read for those looking to keep their house plants alive, and to figure out what plants will best survive in your available spaces. The information is well organized and laid out in accessible segments with some labeled images to break up the amount of text. I found the information to be well researched and useful, but lacking the conversational tone or humor that I tend to enjoy woven through such reference material to make the read slightly less dense. This is more a point of personal preference that ban issue, I am sure there are those that prefer this straightforward style. I think this book is a good reference for readers to have handy when planning their plant purchasing and placement, or for interior designers to reference when planning to add plant life to a space. However, I think it is a better purchase for a library or professional that might regularly need the information than for a personal library.

Growing plants in low light is always a challenge, and this charming book gives many tips and suggestions for doing so. Especially valuable is the list of plants that will tolerate a low light situation. Relevant and useful, this is a book for many gardeners and plant lovers alike.

An interesting book full of useful information and advice. I liked how the book is organized and the pictures.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Great reference book for anyone who has or wants household plants. Personally, I have 15 plants and still need to be sure they are growing healthy and strong. But for me what is particularly good is I can use the information when I purchase my next plant. I think most people will appreciate that the listing for each plant remarks whether they are toxic to pets.
I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for my volunteer review.

WOW. When I saw this title and what it was about I was really keen on reading the book. I have a darker hall and want to have some plants there.

The book is called Grow in the Dark but it is so much more. It has so many helpful hints and tips for all houseplant growing and all told in a friendly manner. The chapters are Illumination, Hydration andVitamins, Maintenance and finally plant profiles which help you decide which plants will grow under which lighting.

I have come away learning so much more about how to look after all my houseplants and now know which to buy for the darker areas. Definately a book I will use over and over for resources.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quatro Publishing Group for letting me read and review this title. ( All views are my own)

This is a gorgeous, helpful book to teach you all you need to know to grow houseplants even in low light conditions. The author is very knowledgeable and it's full of fantastic photos for inspiration. The book goes into details about how different facing windows give different light to plants, how to use things like mirrors and light walls to increase the light a plant gets, and things you might not think of like trimming bushes and trees outside, using skylights, and washing down leaves and windows to the plants are able to get more of the light they're exposed to.

There are sections on plant maintenance, watering, buying your plants, fertilizing and more. The final section is in-depth information on several dozen plants that work in medium to low light, with color photos of each and information on how much to water them, where they'll be happiest, if they are toxic to pets and so on.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

I loved reading this book and enjoyed it so much. It is around 100 pages and the first half is about the basics about everything with pictures to further explain their point. The few books I read usually don't add pictures for every point but this book does for most of them. The second half has information about some plants that can live in a medium and low light apartment (since that's the focus of this book). The plants chosen were very pretty and I loved them. Definitely would recommend this to people who want plants but don't have much light coming through the window at home/apartment.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

Wie man aus einem dunklen Daheim eine grüne Oase machen kann - oder fast.
Sehr geniale und einfache Ideen, um Pflanzen auch mit weniger Licht ein schönes Zuhause zu geben.
Mit tollen Fotos.

Grow in the Dark by Lisa Eldred Steinkopf is a very informative book for people who want to add plants to their homes.

A great book for those wishing to introduce plants into their households. I remember growing up having a spider plant at home and my nan having an African violet. In my adult years I've got nothing more than a plastic flower, much to my shame!

The book is split into four main chapters after starting with an Introduction. The first chapter Illumination explains the natural light that comes in through each house facing and unnatural light that plants can use. Hydration and Vitamins chapter covers watering and nutrition for your plant plus what to look for when its over or under watered.

The Maintenance chapter provides you with the knowledge of what to look for when choosing a plant plus how to pot it on and how to battle pests.

Finally the last chapter provides fifty-two plant ideas, including what light type it is, whether its safe for animals, its botanical name, when to water and the size it grows to. After each description is a colour photograph of the plant in question.I

This book has certainly given me the knowledge and confidence to go to the local garden centre and get a 'living' plant for my home.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

As a beginner plant grower this was a great book to read. Informative and interesting. Living in a basement apartment with few windows, this helped me find the right plants for me. Love the pictures.

This book is useful for anyone wanting to grow houseplants. Lots of good photo's for illustration so you can understand what you're doing.

A comprehensive, easy to read book for growing plants that don't require a lot of light, perfect for anyone from beginners to expert green thumbs. There's a lot of helpful information packed in this book, from tips on how to improve your light to which plants are/aren't toxic to pets. At the end there's a list of 50 plants that will do well with less light- I can personally vouch for the pothos; I have one that's at least 25 years old, living happily in a northern facing window with indirect sunlight! A very good reference for anyone wanting to brighten their living space with happy plants!

#GrowInTheDark #NetGalley