Plant stylist Hilton Carter is on a mission – and that mission has evolved as he’s grown his community, ministering to would-be plant parents on Apartment Therapy and authoring two books: Wild At Home and Wild Interiors, released just last month. “The questions people are asking about their plants are the same," said Carter from his Baltimore home. “Those questions usually stem from how to best care for their plants: 'I tortured this plant and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.' But I've changed over the years."

As much as Carter has popularized a sense of abundant interior greenery through his super-popular Instagram account, he says he wants plant novices to better understand their limitations. "People really need to consider plants as living things, as 'potted pets.'" And people need to understand that every single plant can't live happily in every single space. There are people who come to me and say, 'I've killed three fiddle-leaf figs — now I'm on my fourth. And I'll say, 'Nobody should give you a fiddle-leaf fig!'"

Carter comes by his love for fiddle-leaf figs — the once and possibly permanent icon of #plantsofinstagram — honestly: A fiddle-leaf fig he named Frank is celebrated in the opening to his debut book, Wild At Home, and remains a regular star of Carter’s social media feeds. When Carter first brought Frank home in 2014, the growing conditions inside his New Orleans apartment — high ceilings, great light — were serendipitously ideal. When he and Frank moved to Baltimore (low ceilings, bad light), Frank suffered — and Carter investigated how to best care for him.

Above: A peek into the bedroom of Hilton’s studio, Jungle by the Falls, featuring Treezus, the fiddle-leaf fig and smaller plants such as a spider plant, a Peruvian apple cactus, and a variegated rubber plant that really set the mood of the room. Below Left: Home of copywriter, Theodora Melnik, Berlin, Germany. Plants on the sideboard: Philodendron xanadu, fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) and Dracaena. Below Right: Home of interior designer, Dee Campling, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK. Monstera deliciosa and a Swedish ivy (Plectranthus verticillates) complement a large photo of Bob Dylan with a vintage leather chair.

Above: A peek into the bedroom of Hilton’s studio, Jungle by the Falls, featuring Treezus, the fiddle-leaf fig and smaller plants such as a spider plant, a Peruvian apple cactus, and a variegated rubber plant that really set the mood of the room. Below: Home of interior designer, Dee Campling, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK. Monstera deliciosa and a Swedish ivy (Plectranthus verticillates) complement a large photo of Bob Dylan with a vintage leather chair. Bottom: Home of copywriter, Theodora Melnik, Berlin, Germany. Plants on the sideboard: Philodendron xanadu, fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) and Dracaena.

That effort informs his stance today: Ambitious if under-experienced plant owners need to do the work to safeguard their green friends. “I'll hear people talk about a $300 cutting from a variegated monstera, and then they'll go home and spend all their time on that, ignoring the $20 plant they picked up somewhere else," he says. “But these are all living things, and they all need to be cared for." Carter has a fitting idea for his next book's title: "If I do a third book, I'm calling it Plant Rant."

These days, Carter is working to make the most of his extra time at home during this singular cultural moment. Instead of traveling across the county on a book tour in support of Wild Interiors, he’s leading propagation courses online — an endeavor that has proven to be unexpectedly rewarding. “During these propagating classes, I've had people from all over, from South Africa and Singapore, and I’m thinking, why would I ever go back on tour again?’” Now that we’re more tied to our own domestic spaces than ever before, Carter says he’s happy knowing that he’s helped people create peaceful havens within their homes.

In Hilton’s studio, Jungle by the Falls, he utilizes a bird of paradise (Strelitzia) a fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) a few apple cactus (Cereus repandus) and a hanging golden pathos (Epipremnum), to create the tropical vibe he wanted to surround himself in.

“The green community is just so positive. I don’t know what the future will bring, but people find solace in that positivity, and there’s a lot of good energy — even just in going to plant shops and purchasing plants.” As for himself, Carter’s immediate plans for the future are better defined: He married in 2018 and is looking to start a family with his wife Fiona, a dentist. Those future responsibilities, though, haven’t kept him from sketching out his creative ambitions. “My dream is to have a mobile plant shop/coffeeshop,” he says. “My wife is, like, you'll never have time to do that. But we’ll see.”

Clockwise above starting with Wild Interiors, Beautiful Plants in Beautiful Places, Hilton Carter, 2020 © CICO Books, Top Right: Outdoor patio in the home of Sofie Vertongen & Yannick De Neef, Antwerp, Belgium; owners of the plant shop, The Plant Corner. Bottom right: Tools of the Trade: Hilton’s personal collection of watering cans. Bottom left: Small group of cacti along the ledge of the home of Brenna Mathers and Elan Kotz From top starting with outdoor patio in the home of Sofie Vertongen & Yannick De Neef, Antwerp, Belgium; owners of the plant shop, The Plant Corner. Top Bottom: Tools of the Trade: Hilton’s personal collection of watering cans. Above top: Wild Interiors, Beautiful Plants in Beautiful Places, Hilton Carter, 2020 CICO Books, Above: Small group of cacti along the ledge of the home of Brenna Mathers and Elan Kotz