They don't seem so scary now. [Ferns mini by Mobee Weinstein]

Part of the Cool Springs Press "mini" series of garden-related books, Ferns mini offers the same inspirational and useful content as The Complete Book of Ferns in a smaller, giftable format. Filled with botanical information, indoor and outdoor growing and care information, details on propagation, display ideas, and even craft projects, this book is a small but complete tribute to the mighty fern.

From the classic Boston Fern to newer varieties like trendy Crispy Wave, ferns are back in fashion and in demand for both indoor and outdoor planting. Among the very oldest plants on the planet, ferns have a long and storied history and there are thousands of known varieties globally. 

Authored by Mobee Weinstein, the Foreman of Gardens at the New York Botanical Garden in Brooklyn and a veteran guest on the Martha Stewart Living TV show and other media outlets, the book covers everything from the powers associated with ferns to their practical and ornamental uses. Every aspect of fern care is covered: potting/planting, watering, fertilizing, pest and disease control, and more.

Also included are fun and creative planting projects, like terrariums, vertical gardens (living walls), mixed tabletop gardens, and moss baskets, as well as pressed fern art, fabric wall hangings with chlorophyll-stained designs, cyanotypes, and hand-made fern-decorated paper.

In this beautiful little book, learn why this great, ancient plant class continues to capture our attention.

Last year, at the 2019 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show, I passed a booth for a regional fern society. For several days I really thought about whether or not I should join, how much I wanted to, what membership might look down. Chalk it up to an introversion increasing since childhood, or took my lack of a car, my general adult antisocial outlook, I didn't join. But I always think about it. I always think about the trips to the Pine Barrens that were mentioned. I think about the solidification of my spinster persona, lifestyle, that would have taken place and how proud I would have been in that identity.

In Ferns mini, a scaled down version of her The Complete Book of Ferns, Mobee Weinstein takes the reader lovingly through the world of this ancient fauna, a quick jaunt during which the author takes one hand and rushes you with reassurance and encouragement. Having read the short edit I feel quite comfortable, in theory, because in actuality I've killed at least three, reintroducing ferns into my houseplant landscape. At least at some point in the future.

I always have a hard time giving book about plants ratings. They're on plants, so you'd think an automatic 5 stars. But I don't often much care for craft projects. Still, I learn a lot, and a lot of my feeling towards a book comes down to that. Do I feel like the new knowledge was made accessible to me? How was it conveyed? I don't feel super strongly, negatively or positively, about this book. It was pleasant, it was something I wanted to read and I was able to. The length, again, this being a mini edition, of texts was conducive to the respective reading experience. Would I recommend this? Yes. Is that recommendation a strong one? Sure, why not. Realistically it's at middling strength, like a 4.5, but we're gonna call it 5 stars from me.

Ferns mini is set for publication September 08, 2020.