West Coast craft editor Susan McDiarmid balked at paying more for a plant hanger for her flowering orchid cactus than she had for her first car. So she made her own. And then went on to write Making Plant Places: Original Craft Projects for Making Containers, Boxes, Baskets, Hangers & Stands (Hartley & Marks $32.95). The instructions for fashioning wood, wire, metal and fabric may not exalt the hanging plant to the stellar popularity it enjoyed in the '70s, but do provide dozens of ideas for stylish containers, without, fortunately, a psychedelic macramé hanger among them. 0-88179-172-5

[Louise Donnelly / BCBW 2001]