Once mostly rolling hills and valleys covered with hardwood forest in the seventeenth century, contemporary Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley now claim the largest concentration of many of the finest public and private gardens in the world. William M. Klein explores the broader attitudes and behaviors toward nature that have influenced this developmentt - of colonial farms and gardens created for survival to the art of suburban gardens to nature conservatories and public parks. Discover how in 300 years we have moved from fencing nature out to fencing nature in. Out of the past, examine the worm fence at Colonial Pennsylvania Plantations, overgrown by weeds as it would have been during Colonial times, zigzagging across the fields tenuously holding back the great forest that presses down. Into the present, consider the chain link fence at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum that bounds a threatened wetland habitat from the intrusion of highways and reverberates to the sounds of traffic from I-95 and the Philadelphia International Airport. Klein's eloquent and knowledgeable narrative include detailed portraits of forty-four individual gardens, all lustrously illustrated by noted garden photographer Derek Fell. While considering a particular garden's historical and social influences, Klein discusses the philosophy behind each garden, its planner's goals and even personality, and the garden's interaction with surrounding architecture. This complete guide also includes each location's address, phone number, hours of operation, events, and featured plants, flowers, and trees. Yet this book goes far beyond the usual guides in this search for answers to the perennial questions of how and why each generation struggles to define its place in nature. As we approach the twenty-first century, the garden has become the metaphor for how we must begin to view all nature today - tended space where we collect, name, nurture, and share our love of plants. Author note: Formerly Director of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. William M. Klein, Jr. is Executive Director of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Lawai, Hawaii. In 1993 he was presented with the American Horticultural Society's Professional Award, and has been a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1989. He has published many important writings on nature, botany, and landscape, including his previous book, The Vascular Flora of Pennsylvania: Annotated Checklist and Atlas. Derek Fell is a widely published garden photographer and the author of more than 50 garden books and garden calendars.

Turn a shady yard into a sumptuous garden Shade is one of the most common garden situations homeowner’s have, but with the right plant knowledge, you can triumph over challenging areas and learn to embrace shade as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Glorious Shade celebrates the benefits of shade and shows you how to make the most of it. This information-rich, hardworking guide is packed with everything you need to successfully garden in the shadiest corners of a yard. You'll learn how to determine what type of shade you have and how to choose the right plants for the space. The book also shares the techniques, design and maintenance tips that are key to growing a successful shade garden. Stunning color photographs offer design inspiration and reveal the beauty of shade-loving plants.

An illustrated guidebook to a rich array of 148 designed landscapes along the Northeast Corridor. Nestled all along the northeast corridor, a profusion of horticultural gems and designed landscapes beckons visitors, from celebrated formal parks, estates, and arboretums to less familiar—and often hard to find—gardens. This unique guidebook features 148 of them, providing readers with an incomparable resource for locating and exploring the region’s green spaces—many with historic homes at their center. Whether large, sumptuous, and impressively maintained, or modest in size, budget, and staff, all have distinctive historical, artistic, and horticultural offerings that make them well worth a trip. Mt. Cuba Center and Winterthur in Delaware, Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania, Grounds for Sculpture and the Leonard J. Buck Garden in New Jersey, the Humes Japanese Stroll Garden on Long Island, Stonecrop Gardens and Innisfree in the Hudson Valley, and Elizabeth Park and Hollister House in Connecticut are just a few of the great gardens highlighted. Featuring more than three hundred color photographs and twenty-nine maps, with a fund of practical information for each entry—including transportation, nearby eateries, and other sites of interest, Exploring Gardens and Green Spaces is a veritable tour guide at your fingertips, showcasing an array of gardens that await discovery.

Finally, for every resident and visitor to the region, a comprehensive guide to the gardens of eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware. Magnificently illustrated with nearly 200 full color photographs, A GUIDE TO THE GREAT GARDENS OF THE PHILADELPHIA REGION provides essential information on how to locate and enjoy the finest gardens the area has to offer. As the horticultural epicenter of the United States, Philadelphia and the surrounding towns, suburbs, and countryside are blessed with more public gardens in a concentrated area than almost any other region in the world. Stretching from Trenton, New Jersey through Philadelphia and down to Newark, Delaware, this area (often called the Delaware Valley) offers more horticultural riches than a visitor can possibly see even in a coupl of weeks of hectic garden-hopping. In A GUIDE TO THE GREAT GARDENS OF THE PHILADELPHIA REGION you will find: Detailed coverage of almost 100 gardens Maps to indicate where area gardens are in relation to each other to plan day trip itineraries Key information about each major garden, including hours, fees, time needed for a tour, history, acreage, and special features Over a dozen gardens that have never before been featured in any garden guidebook Arranged by interest, to help guide readers to gardens that will most meet their needs Notations about historical houses, cafes/restaurants, gift shops, and chidren's features at each major garden

From the beginning of human civilization, people have depended on plants to cure disease, promote healing of injuries, and alleviate pain. In many places that has changed very little. In the West, however, herbal and botanical cures have long been ignored in favor of "scientific medicine." But the benefits of medicinal plants are being rediscovered in many developed countries, where consumers are turning to such therapies in place of, and in addition to, Western medical treatments. And, all over the world, the drive to lower the cost of health care has made herbals and botanicals an attractive alternative to more expensive synthetic remedies. In 1978, the World Health Organization responded to increased interest in medicinal plants by convening a series of international consultations, seminars, and symposia to explore and promote the use of medicinal plants. Medicinal Plants presents the proceedings of the last of these symposia, held in 1993. It brings together an vast range of information and presents an overview of the use of medicinal plants that includes a discussion of a variety of issues—scientific, economic, regulatory, agricultural, cultural—focused on the importance of medicinal plants to primary health care and global health care reform.

The Delaware Valley is a distinct region situated within the Middle Atlantic states, encompassing portions of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. With its cultural epicenter of Philadelphia, its surrounding bays and ports within Maryland and Delaware, and its conglomerate population of European settlers, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans, the Delaware Valley was one of the great cultural hearths of early America. The region felt the full brunt of the American Revolution, briefly served as the national capital in the post-Revolutionary period, and sheltered burgeoning industries amidst the growing pains of a young nation. Yet, despite these distinctions, the Delaware Valley has received less scholarly treatment than its colonial equals in New England and the Chesapeake region. In Historical Archaeology of the Delaware Valley, 1600–1850, Richard Veit and David Orr bring together fifteen essays that represent the wide range of cultures, experiences, and industries that make this region distinctly American in its diversity. From historic-period American Indians living in a rapidly changing world to an archaeological portrait of Benjamin Franklin, from an eighteenth-century shipwreck to the archaeology of Quakerism, this volume highlights the vast array of research being conducted throughout the region. Many of these sites discussed are the locations of ongoing excavations, and archaeologists and historians alike continue to debate the region’s multifaceted identity. The archaeological stories found within Historical Archeology of the Delaware Valley, 1600–1850 reflect the amalgamated heritage that many American regions experienced, though the Delaware Valley certainly exemplifies a richer experience than most: it even boasts the palatial home of a king (Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon and former King of Naples and Spain). This work, thoroughly based on careful archaeological examination, tells the stories of earlier generations in the Delaware Valley and makes the case that New England and the Chesapeake are not the only cultural centers of colonial America.