Not Another Jungle: Comprehensive Care for Extraordinary Houseplants

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So it was a real combination between obviously what is looking really good at the time, I wanted to show a really wide variety of plant, not just our aroids, we've got orchids through the book, we've got beautiful begonia, we've got cacti and succulents as well. And it was, it's what's looking good, what's going to be really interesting. And each plant profile in the book relates the chapter that it's in. So some will relate to humidity or light or watering. And it just sort of helps tie everything together. Jane: It's amazing. Whenever I have a problem with a plant now, I've kind of finally realised that mostly the problem is it's not getting enough light. Things that have been really miserable and I've moved them somewhere brighter have just immediately sparked into life. It was just another thing to do. Initially, I was going to do the photos. Because I want to have that creative control because newsflash, I'm very controlling when it comes to having the book. Tony: This one is called Tina; Tina Turner! I don't name my plants but they just have comedy names. That one is Bob; Bob Marley. Can you see that?

Tony: There's a reason that these Aroids are in commercial cultivation, the common ones, because they're the best, or some of the best that were chosen, and people invested a lot of money in them to make them available to everyone else. Jane: I was going to say they look like they're starting to reshoot. We'll get into a bit more, sort of really geeky stuff in a little bit of Patreon content, but that's the unicorn that we've all heard about. It's never Obliqua, but here we are, it is Obliqua, so what's the story behind your getting hold of the Obliqua?

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Tony: It's still up in the air, yes. There's a lot of different thoughts on that. I mean, Borsigiana isn't a recognised name. It was just invented, but use it if you like because people know what you're talking about, but I'd say the easiest thing is just to do small-form and large-form right now. I've grown both of them in the same situations, from nodes, and they act completely differently. They fenestrate in different ways, they grow at a different rate as well, even from nodes which are sort of the same maturity. So, in my eyes, they are two different forms of Deliciosa but, for instance, I have six different forms of Monstera adansonii subspecies Laniata. That sounds very specific, but every region has a different version of it, so it's not crazy to think that there might be two, or even more, subspecies of Deliciosa, like that was thought as a subspecies of Deliciosa at the moment. This isn’t any ordinary houseplant book. In fact, there is nothing ordinary about these extraordinary plants. From growing his own collection, Tony Le-Britton of Not Another Jungle, shows you how to grow and care for the world’s most sought after plants. Meanwhile, ‘plant profiles’ put the spotlight on some of the more unusual plants in Tony’s collection, including Monstera obliqua‘Peruvian Form’, which is smaller than the more commonly grown members of the monstera family. This is one of Tony's biggest bugbears, who says home-made fertilisers are “a total waste of food or total waste of time. Sometimes it can actually create a negative impact on the plant".

Products mentioned: LED lights, Sandwich bags, sphagnum moss and rooting hormone. Dale Foot wool-based seed peat-free compost. Not Another Jungle specialist Houseplant Super Food. Empathy RootGrow. Tony’s desert island plant: Anything from the alocasia family as they produce big leaves which you can shelter under and you can eat the tubers!Tony: I showed people online why it's called Elephant Ear. When you shake it like that, it's like an elephant walking, isn't it?

Jane: I've got nothing that big but when you get plants that are established like that, you get this crispy underbelly that if you give it a shake you're always going to find some dead leaves, which is the maintenance part, isn't it, keeping that in trim. Tony: That one doesn't have a name. I don't name my plants but - comedy -- usually after a few drinks...Absolutely, it is a recipe for disaster. We've all been there. We've all been there. Well it's, I'm really excited that this book is come to fruition and is there anything else you want to tell me about it before we end this interview? Is there anything else that we need to immediately turn to on, I mean that the cover we should talk a little bit about the cover. The cover is nice and very you.

Detailed chapters on light, water, humidity, fertilizer, variegation, propagation, and pests and diseases have you covered so you can confidently care for all your houseplants. Understanding their natural habitats empowers you to create the optimum environment in your own home so your plants will thrive. Combining detailed care advice and stunning imagery on a wide range of plants, including Monstera and Anthurium, with a special focus on desirable and unusual varieties Tony: There is an answer. There are a couple of different answers. So there is Mosaic virus in Adansonii, but the absolute majority that you get are this form of Monstera, that we don't actually know is adansonii. We think it is,but it's not an Adansonii that's known. We think it's actually some sort of tissue culture freak that's happened. There's no evidence and there's no record of it first being brought into cultivation, so we don't really know where it came from or what it really is. But that particular plant, for some reason, is incredibly hungry and it shows signs of that very readily in the leaves. So you get that patination and, usually, after a good fertiliser and a little bit of extra light it recovers. I know some people do get really scared. The best thing if you have any worries, just separate it from the rest of your plants. Mosaic actually isn't that easily transmitted between plants. You've really got to be cutting and using the same tools on multiple plants, but if you have any question, just separate it and figure it out.

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Jane: I think that's really interesting. I think that outside approach, bringing that inside does bring a different perspective. Can you talk a bit more about that, in terms of how that plays out, in terms of things like pests and watering? Jane: I'm hearing you. Let's head out to the greenhouse, shall we? Let's go and explore that. We could literally be here all day! All the plants featured are available internationally and can be acquired by US readers (many plants have their origins in South America or Asia). Wonder at the natural world with Not Another Jungle and curate and care for your own incredible collection of happy, healthy houseplants. Tony: Absolutely! I was in the garden centre the other day and people were looking at Alocasia zebrina, one of my absolute favourite plants, and they were looking and they were really admiring it because it's spectacular - "Oh, should we buy that? Should we not? Oh, I don't know!" - so I just stepped in and I said, "Oh, if you need some help, I can help you on this. First of all, it needs a lot of light" and I said, "What other plants do you have?" "Well, we have this Monstera" and I said "It needs at least twice the amount of light, if not three times, what you're giving the Monstera!" She then went to put it down. I said, "It doesn't mean you can't have it. You can get a cheap bulb from online put it into one of your light fittings and put it on a timer for 12 to 16 hours a day, then you can have that plant" and she was, like, "Oh my God, I didn't think about that! That you can actually change the atmosphere in your house and you can grow anything you want!"