These watercolors are in some ways better to view than real plants. They have the exact right amount of light, shadow, contrast . . . it is just a beauty of a book! The plant information is brief but useful information. Anyone interested in plants would enjoy this book.

This is a lovely book, beautifully set out and illustrated with painted specimen of plants which a commonly grown in and out of the home. There is a separate page which gives growing instructions with each painting. The book is extremely informative and very practical, and the paintings are very easily recognisable and beautifully executed..

n excellent reference for house plants, with just gorgeous watercolors of the plants. Includes information on plant care, arranging, light requirements, etc. Definitely worth looking through and adding to your shelf.

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.

This is a gorgeous book. Instead of pictures depicting the plant being described, there is an artist's interpretation of the plant that is both recognizable and artistic. On top of the beautiful art, the plants covered, and the information given was very helpful. Many of the plants featured, I already had and could use the pointers given for their care. Many others I have seen in stores, and will use the information provided to judge whether I should expand my collection.
This books features a wide variety of plants, from spider plants to cacti. There are separate sections for cacti, succulents and other flowering houseplants with a respectable amount of plants chosen for each. Not only is this a fun book to leaf through while watering plants, I wouldn't mind some of the art featured hanging next to the plant it depicts. I highly recommend this for plant owners of all skill levels.

I had access to the first 47 pages. This is a good guide for indoors plants. The guide explains the way to take care for the specific plant.

I loved this book it has a ton of great info on keeping your houseplants alive and lets you get some "gardening" in during the cold winter months.   The information is presented in an easy to read format that makes this one of those reference books you will want to keep on your bookshelves.

I received a free ebook copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

It's a lovely book. The illustrations are simply gorgeous and the information on how to take care of the pictured plants - interesting and very useful. Now I know what to do about my succulents :)

I think it would be a beautiful gift for someone who loves plants or someone who wants to start an indoor garden of their own. The pictures must be even more beautiful in hardcover.

The best way to arrange your plants, the best plants to have inside and outside your house and the best plant and easy plant to keep and how to make them thrive. A very useful book that I would have loved reading it before...

Il modo migliore di sistemare le piante, le migliori piante da appartamento o da terrazzo o giardino e le migliori e piú facili da far fiorire. Un libro utile che mi sarebbe piaciuto aver letto prima....

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Urban Oasis is a book with beautiful botanical art. In that, however, lies the confusion. Is this intended as an art (read "coffee table") book? or is it intended to be a houseplant book (i.e., gardening section)? Each plant is depicted in a full-page beautiful watercolor, but often just one leaf or one branch or one flower. Often the full size plant is never shown. Nice as art work, but not very practical illustrations for someone who wants to know what the whole plant will look like (or how big it will get). The text is limited to a few very short paragraphs, leaving a huge amount of white space below. I can see how this causes the eye to be drawn to the illustration, but again, is this intended to be an art book or a book on houseplants? The gardening part is lacking--how does one know how large the plant will be, how to maintain, what pests and diseases are common and how to treat them? Pretty pictures are nice, but not sure who will buy this book just for the pretty pictures.

Using Plants as a Design Element:
I fell in love with the artful cover of this book, designed by Maiike Koster. Maiike, a Dutch designer and artist, has made the elegant water color illustrations for all of the plants presented in this book. I cannot tell how much I enjoy just looking at them over and over again. All the plants are set into scene beautifully against a white background. When I googled Maiike, I found photographs of her studio which demonstrate how stunning her green plants look in the white interior. The fresh, vibrant greens and the interesting leaf silhouettes take center stage in Maiike’s interior design. I cannot help myself thinking I should paint the whole interior of my house white and decorate the house with more plants. The plant descriptions by Emma Sibley include everything I need to know for growing the featured plants in my home. I thought I knew them all, but I found quite a few plants I have not seen before, like the Fishbone Cactus and the String of Bananas. From now on, I will be on the lookout for these and other plants from the book and bring them home when I find them.