Book Review: Plant Parenting

Plant Parenting: Easy Ways to Make More Houseplants, Vegetables, and Flowers by Leslie F. Halleck (Timber Press, 256 pp., 2019, $24.95)

How are your plant propagation skills? If you’re like me, you’re probably pretty decent at starting plants from seed but maybe not so great at taking cuttings to propagate plants.

I first heard about Leslie Halleck’s new book, Plant Parenting, on one of Joe Lamp’l’s podcasts and was intrigued. I’ve always wanted to propagate some of my houseplants in addition to plants in my garden. And it turns out Leslie is just the person to keep things simple and straightforward while helping her readers have great success.

According to the author’s description, “This book will introduce you to the essential tools you need to start your plant propagation quest and demystify the art of basic seed and vegetative propagation techniques with easy-to-follow instructions. I’ve chosen to highlight certain plants that are easily accessible and make good examples for introductory propagation techniques. You can then take these techniques and apply them to many other plants of your choosing.”

That is exactly the type of book I’ve been looking for! In part one, “How Plants Multiply,” Leslie discusses seeds and vegetative cuttings (a.k.a. clones) and why it’s important to understand which methods will work, depending on the plant.

For vegetative propagation, she explains that the resulting plants will be identical to the plant you took cuttings from. There is a helpful chart — “Common Propagation Methods for Some Popular plants” – to get the reader started since you can’t always use the same method for every type of plant you want to duplicate.

The author also discusses the importance of understanding plant names such as species, hybrid,  cultivar and heirloom because one needs to know if a plant can be successfully propagated while achieving the desired results.

One of the things I like about Leslie Halleck’s writing style is that she strives not to get too complicated or technical, which means the material in the book is very easily understood.

In part two, “Materials and Tools,” she includes hand tools – most of which you’ll already have on hand – containers, growing media, root hormones, humidity domes, capillary mats, automatic propagators (if you really want to get serious!) and lighting.

Speaking of lighting, the author is an expert on this topic. She wrote the book, Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers (Workman Publishing) in 2018, and it is incredibly detailed and helpful. But for Plant Parenting, she keeps things simple while explaining the light needs for seedlings vs. cuttings (spoiler alert: you really need to use grow light for starting seeds).

The following section, “Starting Your Seeds,” applies to annuals, perennials and edible crops. This is the place to learn how seeds germinate (sprout), ways to prepare your seeds for planting through “chitting” (soaking seeds prior to planting), scarification and stratification. Readers will appreciate the chart listing ideal temperatures for seed germination.

The section on “Water Rooting: A Beginner’s Guide to Windowsill Cuttings” is an exciting part of the book for gardeners. It includes cool tools for the job such as avocado seed floaters, ceramic sprouting supports and so on. Then Leslie explores how to take vegetative cuttings, which will produce plants identical to the mother plant. The information includes the best time to take a cutting from a plant and step-by-step instructions for stem cuttings, leaf cuttings and offsets.

Other topics covered include propagating other types of plants, common pests and diseases (which includes charts of target plants of each, signs and symptoms, as well as treatment), and when and how to transplant your seedlings and cuttings.

There is a resource section that lists ways to contact the author, helpful websites, and sources for propagation supplies, seeds and plants.

Plant Parenting is a great reference book for gardeners of all levels. The easy-to-follow instructions and helpful tips ensure they will be successful. The book is also filled with wonderful photos to illustrate the techniques.

Now you’ll have to excuse me but I want to practice what I’ve learned by making more houseplants!