Botanical Homicide

I am guilty of botanical homicide, and worse yet I'm a repeat offender. A lovely fern growing up toward the sky despite being trapped in my apartment, a dual prisoner; confined to a plastic pot, I blamed winter. Seedlings new to the world and met by this cold stone killer over watered, and left to freeze by an open window. Is this intentional? A mere whim in a supermarket, 'well that's a pretty plant, come home with me', then a few weeks later it happens again a withered shell of it's former self. How can I end this cycle of dread something small and fragile, so resiliant on the outside world when faced with the elements but when contained its slowly drained of it's once vibrant nature. Where would the answer be found to this quandry, in a book of plant tending?