In the first essay in Garden Musings, this gardening writer states, "The evidence keeps racking up that I, the Hoosier-born offspring of several generations of farmers, chose through ignorance to garden in a delightful area combining the world's worst soil and an exasperating climate, all augmented by various man-made and natural catastrophes such as tornadoes, droughts, prairie fires, hail, drenching rains, ice-storms, late freezes, boiling summers, and seventy mile per hour winds. " Gardening, with all the pressures of struggle between the environment, wild animals, and the gardener, and particularly in the harsh Kansas weather, is not for the faint-hearted as demonstrated by the many essays in the book including Sweet (Corn) Pain, Weather-Weary, Midden Misery, and Soil Sorrows. While the essays are full of useful personal observations about gardening style, plant information, and garden practices, the author also turns his wry eye on tumbling a number of gardening tenets and institutions as he turns his attentions on composting, lawn maintenance, and landscape designers who work primarily in junipers, Japanese barberry and Stella de Oro daylilies. The timing and content of programming of the Home and Garden Television Network and the lack of availability of G-rated gardening statues are other topics that don't escape this garden curmudgeon. Gardeners searching for practical advice or simply for winter-reading pleasure will all find fulfillment within these pages.

Brighter zinnias, fragrant carnations, snappier green beans Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener makes it easier than ever to breed and grow your own varieties of vegetables and flowers. This comprehensive and accessible guide explains how to decide what to breed, provides simple explanations on how to cross plants, and features a basic primer on genetics and advanced techniques. Case studies provide breeding examples for favorite plants like daffodils, hollyhocks, roses, sweet corn, and tomatoes.

From the Booker Prize winner and national bestselling author, reflections on gardening, art, literature, and life Penelope Lively takes up her key themes of time and memory, and her lifelong passions for art, literature, and gardening in this philosophical and poetic memoir. From the courtyards of her childhood home in Cairo to a family cottage in Somerset, to her own gardens in Oxford and London, Lively conducts an expert tour, taking us from Eden to Sissinghurst and into her own backyard, traversing the lives of writers like Virginia Woolf and Philip Larkin while imparting her own sly and spare wisdom. "Her body of work proves that certain themes never go out of fashion," writes the New York Times Book Review, as true of this beautiful volume as of the rest of the Lively canon. Now in her eighty-fourth year, Lively muses, "To garden is to elide past, present, and future; it is a defiance of time."

"Reflections on finding peace, beauty, and fulfillment in everyday life, illustrated by the author's experiences with tending her new home's venerable but neglected Japanese garden"--

“Riveting! Camilla, high-five! Amazing work!”—Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered An audacious novel of feminine rage about one of the most prolific female serial killers in American history--and the men who drove her to it. They whisper about her in Chicago. Men come to her with their hopes, their dreams--their fortunes. But no one sees them leave. No one sees them at all after they come to call on the Widow of La Porte. The good people of Indiana may have their suspicions, but if those fools knew what she'd given up, what was taken from her, how she'd suffered, surely they'd understand. Belle Gunness learned a long time ago that a woman has to make her own way in this world. That's all it is. A bloody means to an end. A glorious enterprise meant to raise her from the bleak, colorless drudgery of her childhood to the life she deserves. After all, vermin always survive.

A do-it-yourself guide to a complete garden rehab Gardens, just like houses, sometimes need makeovers. The changes can be as minor as replacing a shrub or as major as pulling everything up and starting from scratch. No matter the size of your space or the scope of the project, the sage advice in Garden Renovation will help you turn a problem-filled yard into a paradise. Bobbie Schwartz draws on her years of experience as a garden designer to teach gardeners how to evaluate their yards, determine what to keep and what to remove, choose the right plants and design plans for successful remodels, and know when to hire help. A gallery of before-and-after photos provides ideas and inspiration for turning a tired garden into an enlivening retreat.

A vividly illustrated celebration of butterflies that discusses their presence in art and culture throughout the ages and examines their symbolism and the related beliefs of a wide variety of peoples.