Cover Image: Hi Cacti

Hi Cacti

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Member Reviews

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A fun book about planting and caring for your plants. Individual plants on each page and what they each prefer light-wise and food-wise.

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This is a very friendly, easy to follow book for newer plant enthusiasts, focusing on the more mindful aspects of caring for houseplants. Palermo talks about how she went from not knowing much at all about plants to owning and running her business, Hi Cacti, selling plants, concrete containers, and related items. As a plant lover myself, I appreciate her focus on the mental health and mindfulness aspects of caring for plants - they really do make an impact on one's life! After the introduction, Palermo lists some of her favorite easy-care plants; each two-page spread includes basic information about the plant type, including common names, light, water, and air needs, and a prompt of sorts, a mindfulness exercise usually, or an explanation of how the plant interacts with its environment. There's a nice selection of plants listed, and all are fairly easy to grow (pothos, for example, is a favorite of mine - I have a mama plant that is close to 30 years old, with many baby plants grown from cutting), giving newbies lots of choices to get started. The next section is on both plant care and self care, and ideas on how to incorporate the two, and tips and tricks on dealing with problems that may come up (over watering, pests), soil, when and how to repot, propagation, etc. There's a chapter filled with things you can make for your plants (banana skins fertilizer! who knew?) and from your plants, from beauty aids to food and drink. Finally, we have a section on decorating with plants, including how to choose a pot and using decorative items like plant stakes and crystals to add interest.
Many people have turned to houseplants during the pandemic, for comfort, calm, beauty, and to have something green and growing around during lock-downs and stay-at-home orders. This book will help them find new ways to benefit from their plants, in addition to helpful information on taking care of them. While the book feels geared toward a newer houseplant parent, I think any indoor gardener will find useful information here - I know I learned some new things!

#HiCacti #NetGalley.

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Hi Cacti: Growing Houseplants & Happiness by Sabina Palermo is such a fun and informative book. Several of my newbie plant mom friends will be receiving this gem for Christmas! #HiCacti #NetGalley

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Loved this! I just got into plants so I loved learning more and becoming a better plant mom because of this book!

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Nice little introduction to cacti with different projects and recipes to do. A profile on a small number of cacti - a small introduction to the plant. An idea of what could for you.

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I’m a plant mama. Loved this book. Great writing. Would make a good gift too. Thanks for chance to read this

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I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Hi Cacti is a beautiful and stylish book for any bookshelf!
The inside is just as beautiful too.
This book is a great guide for anyone whether starting
out with indoor plants or an experienced indoor plant lover. The author guides us through which plants are easiest to grow and care for and how to care for them including watering/feeding them (when away too), pest control, lighting etc. The book features 20 plants that are great for starting out with due to the easiness of caring for them.
I lived how the author included self care within this book on relation to ourselves too such as health benefits of having indoor plants etc.
At the back of the book there are even some food and drink recipes from using the plants featured too which was fantastic! I loved the photographs throughout, they were bright and very befitting to the book too.

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Thank you to the author/illustrator and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback. I love the theme & cover for this plant-focused book. I have a read a handful of books with this theme. This particular book's strength is that it is a conversation about the benefits of houseplants written by someone who is clearly very passionate about the subject. I enjoyed reading this book quite a bit.

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I found the advice helpful. Thank you for the well thought out information and organization of the pages. Good photos also

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A lovely book. Really nice photos and helpful tips on caring for common house plants. I found the tips for holiday watering tips particularly helpful. This book had the perfect amount of information for me, not too detailed but covers all the things I wanted to know.

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Do you end up with dead houseplants? Houseplants have different requirements when it come to taking care of them. The author has picked out her 20 houseplants that are easier to care for. She also explains what each plant needs. Her explanations are easy to understand. The pictures of the plants show you what the plant looks like. She also tells how having plants can be a way of taking care of yourself. They improve the air quality. They give you something to think about other than your hectic day. She even gives recipes on how to make dishes with plants. I enjoyed reading the clear information in the book. It is very useful and helpful.

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So, are you looking for an excuse to have more plants and take time with them? If so, then this is the book for you. This book reminds you of all of the benefits of plants. Also included are care tips on 20 of the most popular houseplants and self-care tips as well.

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I would like to thank netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the graphics, and the easy to follow instructions. Loved that there was information on where the plants originally come from.
I'm not all that interested in the meditation side of the book.

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This is really a lovely guide for the amateur or beginner plant parent. The plants that the author goes over are all fairly good plants to add into your home as a burgeoning green-thumb and the advice and instructions included are all very helpful and easy to follow. The book also goes over essentials like how to pot your plants, what tools to use and proper care etc. This is a great guide to keeping and caring for house plants and all the beautiful illustrations really add to the learning/ reading experience. I really like this book and find it a great companion to caring for my household plants. I read the e-book copy of this book but I'll be sure to pick up the hardcopy to keep handy for daily use!

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Good introduction to plant care. Would have liked to have seen more cacti as the title suggests but certainly covers a range of information including pot types, recipes, display and many others. Easy to find information in the book as well.

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Wonderful colourful book, easy to read and written with a lot of fun in mind. Information is great and there is no length explanations - photos tell the story with concise and to the point plant care.
The book is breeze and I really like the writing style and format. Great book.

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This book was so well designed for newbies like me. Starting a plant journey can be intimitadating with all the things you need to learn but this one was laid out easily and calmly. Lots of great places for me to start.

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Not only is this an absolutely stunning book that would add a touch of style to any given coffee table, the content really doesn't disappoint either! Bringing the outdoor inside seems bang on trend at the moment, and this book really embraces this. 'Hi Cacti' shows how to do plants, a book that will appeal to, but is not restricted to, those of us who fear we may be utterly incapable of keeping a plant alive!

Not only does this book steer us in the right direction of which plants are easiest to care for, it fully briefs us on how to care for them including how to deal with pests and how to keep plants alive when you are away from home.

I particularly like how contemporary and stylish this book is, as are all the plant / plant pots features. It is both inspiring and and practical. Truly a lesson in self care / nurture, even featuring medication that we can do with our plants! Lovely!

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy

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3.5 stars
The book is fun and has lots of info and photos. It covers the benefits of plants and using them as part of self-care. Chapters are Easy-Care Houseplants, Plant Hacks & Knacks, Plant Projects, Plant Eats & Drinks, and Plant Design. I wish the easy care plant chapter covered more - the info is great but it only features about 20 plants. Less than half of them are cacti or even succulents, so the book title is cute but a little misleading. The plant projects chapter is mostly about growing or ways to turn plants into decor. Plant eats and drinks focuses mostly on cacti. Overall, it's got a lot of positive messaging and good introductory plant info for plants that are pretty readily available.

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3 1/2 stars

Sabina Palermo’s Hi Cacti has a lot of great information in it, from easy to grow plants to which pots to use. Many of the plants are the same house plants I recommend to families for better air quality. If you think the book is about cacti based on the title, you would be wrong. I, myself, was disappointed to find out that the book is named after the author’s store and not tips for growing cacti. And, while the book does have a lot of scientific information and artistic flare, it also lends itself to some woo practices that were a bit of a turn off for me. There isn’t any new information in the book, and it seems almost like marketing material for the store, but if you have no knowledge base whatsoever about plants, this does have information to get your started.

Disclaimer: A copy was provided by the publisher.

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