Houseplants are so much more than a living decorative accent for your home or a relaxing hobby, and caring for houseplants should not be a mindless task. Instead, it's an opportunity to check in with yourself as you check in with your plants. You'll learn how houseplants can help you avoid burnout and bring a healthy focus to your own self-care. As it turns out, when you tend to your houseplants, you're also tending to yourself.

Houseplants have a lot of lessons to teach about relationships and the importance of a little give and take, including how to focus on the ones who love you back and how--like getting rid of a dead leaf or a mealybug--sometimes you gotta cut bait and bail on relationships that are bringing you down. Author Kamili Bell Hill used houseplants to exit the stress highway that was overtaking her life and she knows they can do the same for you.

Easy houseplant-care tips to help build your confidence in growing, combined with wise and witty words on everything from managing "devil-spawn fungus gnats" to making your houseplant leaves shine like the top of the Chrysler Building, Happy Plants, Happy You is part self-exploration, part houseplant handbook. In a nutshell, it's a plant-based roadmap to a happier you.

You'll get the lowdown on:

• How to choose the right plants for you as a person, not just for your growing conditions
• Advice on avoiding "vampire relationships" with plants (and people!) that suck you dry
• A wish list of the best tools for houseplant parents
• How to date several plants before settling on the best ones for you
• The art of letting go of things that aren't thriving
• Giving up on the illusion of control--and being totally okay with it