Fabulous book, lots to learn for fern lovers and looks great on the mantle piece! Definitely a must have for any garden lover.

A wonderful and well scientifically researched guide about ferns.

The book is very detailed and the author presents various profiles of common ferns,with their characteristics and needs
Very exhaustive in terms of caring about them them, helpful tips and fixes, the book is a neverending source of knowledge.

Very informative and exhaustive, it can definitely be used as reference!

This book begins with simple description of the evolution of ferns, followed by some ethnobotany and a chapter on botany (i.e., structure and reproduction) of ferns. There are concise and nicely-illustrated instructions for propagating ferns by spores and by division, as well as instructions for growing ferns as houseplants. I also liked the table of symptoms and their causes/solutions.

The remainder of the "indoor" section of the book has profiles of common fern species. Each profile contains a brief cultural description, recommendations for propagation, and additional notes, along with a nice photo of the species. At times, I wished a more representative view were provided

The next portion of the book focuses on outdoor ferns, their growth requirements and representative profiles. And the final section contains several projects one could do with ferns, including terrariums and fern art. Instructions are detailed and nicely illustrated.

Overall, this is a great guide to growing ferns. The photography in this book is beautiful. At times, it seems a bit repetitive and could use more variety or be more representative of the species (e.g., show the rhizomes of the "paw" ferns).

My appreciation of ferns came from my mum who is so fond of them and grew when we purchased a home with a garden filled with them. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about their biology, history and variants.

The book gives botanical information in an easy-to-understand way on all the different kinds of beautiful ferns, several I’d like to add to my collection! It includes the interesting process of propagating ferns and a guide to fixing frequently encountered problems. In addition to the great educational content, there are several great projects to create art and display ideas which I look forward to trying out.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book from start to finish, it full of gorgeous photos, and if you love ferns this is one for you. It’s a five out of five enJOYment scale and highly recommended.

Sincerely helpful and thoroughly researched. I wasn’t expecting as much depth and detail as this one provided. I learned a lot!

It’s definitely a slower, nonfiction, science book because of these details.. so it’s just worth knowing that and then the right audience will enjoy this book I think!

Ferns are so cool. (And poisonous, I learned, don’t eat them!!)

This is a fantastic resource on growing ferns. It is very comprehensive and informative. Some of the care tips are adaptable to most indoor houseplants and I feel is a must have resource. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

For whatever reason and for the life of me I cannot keep an indoor plant alive. I really like ferns. They are so green and lush and yet they struggle to survive for me. So, when I saw this book I immediately scooped it up in hopes that it can shed light for me on how to keep my last two ferns alive.

Thoughts:
You might think “It’s indoor, therefore it’s easy. It’s the outside ones that are difficult.” Nope – not for me, it’s actually the other way around. I’m good with outside plants. In fact, I have a good-sized vegetable gardening where this past year I grew purple sweet potatoes (Purple Molokai) and Jing Orange okra (yes – okra can be orange!) among other vegetables. But indoor plants of any kind tend to die with me. I haven’t really quite caught on to the watering frequency because each plant tends to dry out differently. The sun or indirect sun requirements confuses me too. But I really love ferns and the way they look so I am determined to figure them out so that they can live more than a few months.

The book is broken out into five main sections. These are not what they are called within the book, but terms I am just using to describe in general: History, Botany, Growing Indoors, Growing Outdoors, Crafting/Creativity

History: Includes evolution, Victorian fern craze, lore, uses, and lots of lush green pictures.

Botany: Includes plant parts and diversity based on climate. This section includes information on how ferns propagate as well as step-by-step instructions, with pictures, on how you can propagate them.

Growing Indoors: Includes information on light, temperature, potting mix (includes 3 soil recipes), watering, and humidity. Since I suspect my personal fern issue lies within the watering and humidity area, I paid specific attention to this part of the book. The book gave some ideas of how to increase humidity, which I immediately put into action. The picture below are of some mini ferns I went out and bought and how they are in a type of holder with pebbles and water. This section also includes a trouble-shooting guide. (pics on blog post of my just-purchased attempts at creating a more humid environment for my ferns. Next step is to get new containers and making sure they don’t dry out.)

A good portion of this section includes quite a few pictures of indoor ferns with specific information on each fern.

Growing Outdoors: Similar to the Growing Indoor section, this one includes information on light, soil, water, temperature, seasonal care, and a trouble shooting portion. At the end is also a lot of beautiful pictures of outdoor ferns.

Crafting/Creativity: This section includes information on crafting projects, such as terrariums, vertical gardening, kokedama, moss baskets, fern mount, and more. A lot of step-by-step instructions in this sections with pictures to go with them. My next fern goal is to tackle a terrarium with ferns, so it was good to have instructions here.

Overall, a lovely, informational book on ferns that came at the perfect time for me. Pictures of the ferns are beautiful and are mostly set against a white background allowing us to clearly see the stunning green foliage. Warning, if you don’t like green then this book may not be for you.

Rating: 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Press – Cool Spring Press for the advanced reader copy and opportunity to provide an honest review.

Ferns glorious ferns! Everything you've ever wanted to know about ferns and everything you didn't know you wanted to know. Exhaustive, holy moly!

The Complete Book of Ferns is a culture and tutorial guide for plants in the fern family by Mobee Weinstein. Due out 14th Jan 2020 from Quarto on their Cool Springs imprint, it's a comprehensive 256 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

The first chapters introduce the botanic and biological diversity and history of ferns (some species have been around since over 100 million years -before- T. rex showed up). The author has a solid understanding of the botany and a deft ability to provide the scientific information in a digestible and understandable form for laypeople. The introduction and botany cover about 20% of the page content.

The rest of the book is given over to comprehensive chapters on growing ferns indoors, outdoors, and DIY projects utilizing ferns for decor and more. The different culture chapters include good information on growing and (more importantly) troubleshooting. The book also includes a cross referenced index. Throughout, the book is spectacularly illustrated and photographed. It's no exaggeration to say it would make a lovely coffee table book for flipping through to admire the beautiful photos.

Five stars.

Thank you for sending me this ARC. Weinstein's book is gorgeous - beautifully laid-out pages with appealing photographs. I've learned so much about the delicate fern family (or I believe - Polypodiophyta?) . I haven't even finished the book because there is just so much information crammed into this book. Botanical informationl how-to-grow and troubleshoot issues; There are even easy to follow planting and crafting tips. I found the book just so appealing and am happy to have got my hands on this copy as I intend to buy it for myself and friends. The funniest thing is I didn't know I needed this book until I read it - now I can't wait to "grow" (sorry, pun was intended) my fern collection. Beautiful book and I hope to sell it to my customers as well. Thank you.

A lovely book. For the wannabe fern enthusiast, you'll find everything there is to know here - their history, how to decorate with them, and how to keep them alive & thriving both indoors & outdoors.
Although a little over-written sometimes in the introductory sections, the practical instructions are very useful and I trust the author's expertise that these will benefit my fern family. A family that will likely grow soon, because of the beautiful photography inspiring me to try new varieties, and my confidence that I'll find useful tips for whatever I bring home.

The Complete book of Ferns is a superb book that you will go back to time and again for reference in your care of your ferns.

I really enjoyed reading this book as it covers so many aspects of ferns from their history to how to care for your plants both indoors and outside. There is a vast amount of information included and lots of fatastic photography.

I liked seeing the ideas near the end of the book for differnt ways to grow your ferns from Terraniums to Moss baskets.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quatro Publishing for the ARC Copy of the book. (My Review is my own opinion.)

Wow. This is the closest thing to complete guidebook on ferns I could ever imagine making. There is lore, history, scientific explanations of what makes a fern, how to reproduce a fern and how to care for a fern. There is even some fun projects included such as kokedama making, as well as a huge listing of different ferns and their unique care. I love looking at ferns, even though my house is far too dry for anything other than an asparagus fern (which I have learned through this book is not actually a fern at all!). Very interesting, and I wish more complete guides to other plants I loved existed to the same level as this book. I will definitely try to work in some fern history like the Victorian craze for them into my future plant conversations.

I love having indoor plants and am always looking for ways to enhance their life span. I love all the tips between taking care of my ferns and even decorating tips. I thoroughly enjoyed the tips for how to solve overwatering the ferns. Anyone who loves to have indoor plants, please check out this book!

As an avid houseplant collector, I was very excited when I sa w The Complete Book of Ferns. I’m always searching for more information about all of my plants to help me improve my knowledge and care of them, this book did not let me down. It starts out with a very in-depth history of ferns before moving on to talk about botany, indoor and outdoor varieties and finally DIY crafting with ferns. I particularly enjoyed the indoor section and the crafting section. I have no doubt I will refer back to this book again. I may even use ferns from my own collection to attempt some of the crafting projects.
Overall- a very well written book, great styling, beautiful photos and a must read for plant enthusiasts.