Houseplants that endure tend to be either undemanding succulents, edible herbs, or plants that add enough to a room’s ambiance that they’re worth some extra effort. And a huge variety of plants are both easy and worth the effort, say longtime plant lovers Tara Shebeli and Tass de Give.Houseplants connect the city dweller to the natural world and remind us of that symbiotic relationship, write Shebeli and de Give, founders of Sprout.”It’s easy to get pigeon-holed into certain ideas about plants – that they always have to be in a certain kind of container or always be on a shelf or on the floor – and you have to help people break out of that. Many people now have a really small living environment and think they don’t have room for plants, but hanging plants on a wall doesn’t take up any space at all, and it adds a lot to the decor,” Shebeli says.

In homes where space and time are precious, the future of the humble houseplant may depend on whether it can earn its keep.

Houseplants that endure tend to be either undemanding succulents, edible herbs, or plants that add enough to a room’s ambiance that they’re worth some extra effort. And a huge variety of plants are both easy and worth the effort, say longtime plant lovers Tara Shebeli and Tass de Give.

Their new book, “Rooted in Design” (Ten Speed Press, 2015), demonstrates that houseplants can be a beautiful and creative element in a home’s decor.

Houseplants connect the city dweller to the natural world and remind us of that symbiotic relationship, write Shebeli and de Give, founders of Sprout Home, an indoor landscaping store in Chicago and Brooklyn, New York.