Between 1850 and 1880, Americans of all ranks and circumstances planted shade trees, cultivated flower gardens, and established lawns with a new found enthusiasm that both astonished and delighted horticultural advocates. For Shade and For Comfort explores this unprecedented burst of horticultural interest and documents its influence on Midwestern domestic landscapes. Drawing upon a wide range of largely unexplored resources - including lithographic images of farm, village, and city homes; agricultural society records; nursery and seed catalogues; and the diaries and letters of local residents - this innovative study examines how advocates encouraged ornamental plant interest and then considers the significance of trees and flowers for their mid-nineteenth-century promoters and for the people who planted and nurtured them. From these diverse perspectives, ornamental plants emerge as densely layered cultural symbols offering not only a very real touch of shade or beauty, but for many, a sense of security and comfort amidst a rapidly changing American society. With its careful portrayal of actual ornamental plant use, its examination of nineteenth century horticultural advice literature and the nursery and seed trades, and its insightful analysis of the meanings attached to shade trees and flower gardens, For Shade and For Comfort will appeal to rural, cultural, and environmental historians, historians of the Midwest, historic preservationists, and those who simply love horticulture and gardening.

Life can be tough, especially when your heart is troubled. Every Day Is a New Shade of Blue explores the biblical principles of the Shepherd and sheep relationship from Psalm 23 to help readers find encouragement and rest even during their darkest moments in life. Using insights from Scripture along with timely quotes, the author reveals the heart of God as the Good Shepherd. Drawn from the deep well of the author's own experience, this inspiring devotional book encourages readers to build trust in God and experience a sense of well-being under His watchful care.

The author of The Natural Shade Garden offers a comprehensive new guide to climate-conscious gardening—beautifully illustrated with 400 photos. There is a new generation of gardeners who are planting gardens not only for their visual beauty but also for their ability to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In The New Shade Garden, Ken Druse provides expert advice on creating a shade garden with an emphasis on the adjustments necessary for our changing climate. Druse examines common problems facing today's gardeners, from addressing the deer situation to watering plants without stressing limited resources. Detailing all aspects of the gardening process, The New Shade Garden covers basic topics such as designing your own garden, pruning trees, preparing soil for planting, and the vast array of flowers and greenery that grow best in the shade. Perfect for new and seasoned gardeners alike, this encyclopedic manual provides all the information you need to start or improve upon your own shade garden.

Finalist for the Two Sylvias Press Wilder Poetry Book Prize.The poems of Kelly Cressio-Moeller's Shade of Blue Trees offer up an intimate surrealism, earth-born, deeply shaded, and tinted the deep blue of solitude, memory, and myth, turning "yearning's blue fire/into a dreamscape fugue." Nowhere is Cressio-Moeller's virtuosity more apparent than in the sequence of "panels." These pieces function as lyric poems, language-paintings, fairy tales, and compressed novels, somehow removed from time, with a lushness that reminds me of Flaubert-without the meanness. For instance: "A wall-eyed jay cracks a cherry's/skull against the cheekbone of dusk," and "Cornflower satin, heels on parquetry-she orders/nests for her hair to keep skylarking near, wears the/clouds on her finger to be swallowed in vapor." There are poems that walk the territory of the actual, from mother-loss, which winters the tips of the speaker's hair, to embodiment: "without my cervix I am no less queen/open me, see there's nothing left to give." Indeed this collection is evidence of a queendom that has been cultivated via solitude, loss, and time. "For years," she writes, "her poemwork involved dipping arrows/into tinctures of monkshood. Beneath her shawl of/suffering, she yearned only for two gifts: to be seen, to be understood." With the unveiling of Shade of Blue Trees, those gifts have been delivered. Diane Seuss

A wonderful book by Warner that showcases his love of nature. He shares his experiences that he enjoyed living close to nature for 19 weeks. The focal point is his garden where several famous people visited him including the American president Ulysses Simpson Grant. The book contains vibrant descriptions of flora and fauna as well as the author's views on life and other issues. Riveting!