FARM JOURNAL'S HOUSE PLANTS FOR GIFT GIVING

Already established as indoor specialists (The House Plant Decorating Book, The Indoor Light Gardening Book), the Elberts now offer these clever ideas for plants as gifts--for convalescence, weddings, holidays, housewarmings, benefit sales, etc. Label a plant with its Latin name, they counsel, and consider both season and recipient: don't give Impatiens in summer when it's common, or pothos to an experienced grower. The plant containers vary from cutesy (an upsidedown umbrella-shaped holder for a shower) to predictable (cache pots, Contac-covered juice cans) and also include some more imaginative ones: there's an old sneaker holding Swedish ivy, an emptied tea can with a spider plant, and some builders' feather rock with a miniature rock garden.