The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Cacti and Succulents

Thank you so much to Net Galley, the author, and publisher for providing this book for my honest review. I love how this book incorporates so many pictures of plants, projects, and of many of these cacti and succulents in their natural habitats. I really enjoyed the history on various succulents as well as multiple fun projects to do with different plants. This book details the history, tips on growing, and propagation of the most popular and unique cacti and succulents. The projects in this book give tips on selecting planters, creating a bonsai, and even making your own succulent wreath. There are many more projects and each of them look very fun and easy thanks to the step by step directions and pictures of each project. I learned so much of the history and proper care of various succulents and cacti and I can’t wait to try some of the included projects. Thank you again for providing this book for my review.

Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Cacti and Succulents is a new tutorial guide to growing and enjoying succulent plants written under the auspices of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Due out 11th April 2023 from Quarto on their Frances Lincoln imprint, it's 144 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

Whenever gardeners think about inspiration and knowledge on a worldwide scale, the Kew gardens are at the very top of a very short list. They've been going strong for almost 185 years at this point. This book includes a compendium for the culture and care info of more than 70 individual succulents and cacti along with several attractive plantings arranged as projects. This is also one of a series of books from Kew with culture advice and troubleshooting tips for different types of plants (herbs, houseplants, bulbs, fruits, and vegetables to name a few).

The introduction includes general info for growing succulents of different types followed by a good collection of specific species and their culture requirements. Each of the entries includes a beautiful hand-drawn botanical illustration, taxonomic names, type of plant as well as size, temperature, feeding, propagation, and other requirements. The projects in the tutorial chapters include things like repotting, substrate mixes, feeding, and more.

Much of the photography is from stock photos, but all of the project photos are purpose made for this edition. The culture information is straightforward and peppered with good tips and tricks for encouraging the best performance from all of your plants.

Four and a half stars. Well written and full of attractive photography and gorgeous botanical illustrations. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition, home use, and reference.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

Thank you for the advanced copy.

I will definitely be purchasing this. What an excellent book from Kew.
So informative and the pictures are amazing.

I have a small selection in two butler sinks but they have encouraged me to expand this

Highly recommended

I loved this book! To say it is the ultimate guide to growing cacti and succulents would be and understatement. I thought it was such a great book for beginners or experts. I grow succulents and have quite a few so this book was extremely helpful. I thought the pictures were very tasteful and beautiful. I really liked the layout of this book. Kew's Gardener's Guide gave such detailed and expert advice. It really empowered me to feel better about growing my succulents and to improve.
Read if you enjoy:
Succulents
Cacti
Gardening
Beautiful pictures
Detailed instructions-that are easy to read

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group- White Lion and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Such an inspirational book for succulent lovers, amazing pictures, very informative text. An all round brilliant book. I will be treating myself to a copy. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy

This was really fun to read!

I don’t have a very green thumb at all, but I do love succulents. I’ve been meaning to get my hands on a beginners guide for a long time now, so this was well timed.

There’s a lot of good information about how succulents grow and why the materials used in caring for them are the best. This is helpful to fight the urge to just pot your plants any which way and then end up killing them and buying more (been there). This will definitely make a great reference guide in the future!

Succulent: having fleshy tissues that conserve moisture. Full of moisture.
Did you know that not all succulents are cacti??
This book had beautiful photos and lots of helpful information for lovers of all things succulent. I literally have nine succulent plants in my living room and I’m always fearful I’m going to kill them.
About this book: Succulents
• Where they grow naturally
• Where you can find them
• Threats to them
• How and where to grow at home
• Soil, planting and watering
• Feeding, repotting and pruning
Again the photos are stunning. Perfect for a coffee table display. But my favorite part is the plant section in the back of the book. Lots and lots of info.
I can’t say enough good things about this. I highly recommend if you love succulents.
Thanks Quarto Publishing via NetGalley.

This guide will tell you all you want to know about how to take care of Cacti and Succulents. The pictures are beautiful and there are instructions to make wreaths, plant boxes and planters. There is also an instructions and pictures on how to propagate more plants.
I originally wanted to see if the plant I have was in the book and it was, A Christmas Cacti, and it gave me the information I needed to take care of the plant better.
I took my times with this book and read a few pages at a time and it was helpful because there are so many beautiful plants to read about.

I want to thank Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion, Frances Lincoln and NetGalley for this informative book.

I love all the books that are presented under "Kew Gardener's Guide" as they are well presented with lots of information, photos and drawings. This book on succulent and cacti definitely doe not disappoint, filled with pages of propagation tips, projects, category type and more. All very easily read and interesting. Great for anyone who would like to start a cacti /succulent collection or experienced collectors/growers to gleam additional information. Thanks you NetGalley and the publishers for the DRC

This is a gorgeous book I would love to own a hard copy of when it is published! I love the photos & illustrations, both of which provide lots of inspiration to me. The breakdown of types of plants & recommended supplies really help you feel confident in growing your own succulents & cacti.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion, Frances Lincoln for accepting my request to read and review Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Cacti and Succulents.

Published: 04/11/23

"The Art and Science to Grow with Confidence."

The cover blurb above says it all. Whether you are a gardener, beginner, enthusiast or interested in the science, this book has everyone covered equally.

The pictures spell out what you are getting into. Desert plants are shown. There are potted plants. Throughout the book, there are growing instructions. Finally, should you be interested in specific cacti or succulents, there is an index.

I had the Kindle version. While reading, I wanted to flip, mark and tab pages. At close to 150 pages this may be a bit heavy or awkward, but I see myself using this as a coffee table book. I would gift this.

This was an excellent read for the one household plant type that I struggle with keeping alive. It was informative and extremely helpful. I look forward to seeing how much better off I am at keeping this plant life thriving. The handling guides was very helpful as was the repotting. Great read.

Received as a free ARC from NetGalley and publisher.

I love cacti and succulents and this book did not disappoint. It was very informative and I spent hours reading it and looking at all the plant information and pictures. It contained information from where the pants originated, soil and light conditions throughout the seasons, fertilizer and watering schedules, similar plants, propagating, re-potting, and diseases affecting the plants. The projects featured in the book were for all skill levels and gave step by step instructions with photographs. I already found a few that I would like to do. This is book I will reread and refer to for my cacti and succulents as it so well done.

Informative book on my favorite...succulents and cacti! Lots of step by step illustrations. Detailed pages on every type with lovely botanical like drawings. Definitely one I will come back to as it talks about all aspects of the life cycle. Keeps it simple!

As a lover of cactuses, I was delighted to be approved to read a guide on them.
The book did not disappoint, full of facts and advice on how to care about these beautiful plants. Fantastic guide.

Exactly what it says on the tin, with lovely and sumptuous photos and quality to boot! This book was a silver lining after finding that my last two trials with gardening books were almost unapproachably advanced. Not the case here, only a mild adjustment to region specificity.

This is a very thorough and informative guide to growing, caring for, and being creative with succulents and cacti. The book includes a guide to placement of succulents and cacti, what kind of soil to plant them in, how to water them, the nutrients they will need, and how to grow more from seed, grafting, or through leaves. There is a glossary (which includes information, photos and illustrations with each listing) of various kinds of cacti and succulents. Scattered throughout the book are excellent instructions and ideas for potting the plants in creative ways, creating succulent bonsai, a miniature desert landscape, hanging succulents, a Ward's box containing succulents and cacti, a succulent wreath and more. There are photos every step of the way. I have some cacti and succulents that need to be repotted and I found the book very helpful--I will use some of what I learned when I do that. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in cacti and succulents.

First off the design and the photos in this book are gorgeous! I have struggled with keeping cacti and succulents alive for as long as I have been a plant owner. I've been told those are fairly easy plants to care for though I keep killing them. This book does a great job of engaging the reader in a deeper understanding of the various types of plants, their history and how to care for them adequately. The section displaying tools and demonstrating how to effectively handle cacti for potting is super helpful. I have often times found myself injured or injuring the plant due to lack of proper tools and knowledge on how to repot properly. I am also thankful this book includes a propagation section. In the houseplant community, people often enjoy trading or sharing cuttings of their plants.