Unsettling Botanical Horror Novels to Read This Spring

Madeline Usher is dying. As soon as retired soldier Alex Easton hears the news, he rushes back to the crumbling home of his childhood friend. What he finds is a nightmare. Fungal growth, possessed wildlife, and both Madeline and her brother are suffering from strange illnesses. Kingfisher takes the eeriness of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and adds a terrifying new spin where everything is consumed, controlled, and transformed by a malevolent fungus.

Simon and Gregor live in a botanical garden. Strange, but then, they both are a bit unusual. Simon has his taxidermal art and Gregory his exotic plants. Their life is secluded, but ordinary, until Gregory acquires a new fungus that just might be intelligent. He soon becomes obsessed with finding out exactly how smart it might be, how far he can grow it. But as his experiment flourishes, the cracks in his plan begin to show. Because you can’t reason with a plant. You can’t control it. And as the mycelium grows, it becomes less obvious who exactly is cultivating who.

Evander has lived at Hazelthorn his entire life and adhered to three stringent rules. Never leave the estate. Never go into the garden. And never, ever be alone with the charming Laurie. When Evander ends up inheriting the estate after his guardian is murdered, only Laurie can help him. But a murderer isn’t the only threat. The garden refuses to stay behind its walls. It slips deeper into the house day by day. The garden is hungry. And if Evander can’t uncover the truth of his guardian’s death and Hazelthorn’s secrets, the bloodthirsty plants will demand to feed.

Every generation, the Haddesley family sacrifices their patriarch to the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them and provides a bog wife, a woman created from the vegetation meant to bring in the next generation. Until the bog doesn’t honor the bargain. The family, facing an uncertain future, each attempt to solve the problem their own way. But when the fledging patriarch discovers a horrifying secret, they’ll all be forced to face a disturbing truth that will shatter everything they ever believed about their past, present, and future.

The last thing Rosemary expects when she meets Ash at the farmer’s market is to fall in love. Ash is everything Rosemary is not: pretty, practical, and precise. Her candles, soaps, cupcakes, and honey are all thanks to the gorgeous plants she grows. The more time she spends with Ash, the deeper Ro falls. As her obsession grows, Ro pushes to learn everything she can about Ash. But there’s a reason Ash is so successful. It’s all thanks to a secret ingredient. Ro’s every thought is consumed by Ash. And maybe that isn’t exactly an accident. 

For decades, Area X has been cut off from human civilization. Eleven expeditions into the area all ended in tragedy. Now, the twelfth, made up of four women, prepares to enter. They’re there to map the land, record their surroundings, and most importantly, avoid the same contamination that ended all the other expeditions. But they all have secrets. Things they’d rather not share. In a place like Area X, those secrets might prove to be deadly.