A simple shrub is made from fruit, sugar, and . . . vinegar? Raise your glass to a surprising new taste sensation for cocktails and sophisticated sodas: Shrubs. Not the kind that grow in the ground, but a vintage drink mixer that will knock your socks off. “Mixologists across the country are reaching back through the centuries to reclaim vinegar’s more palatable past . . . embracing it as ‘the other acid,’ an alternative to the same-old-same-old lemons and limes,” said the New York Times. The history of shrubs, as revealed here, is as fascinating as the drinks are refreshing. These sharp and tangy infusions are simple to make and use, as you’ll discover with these recipes. Mix up some Red Currant Shrub for a Vermouth Cassis, or Apple Cinnamon Shrub to mix with seltzer, or develop your own with Michael Dietsch’s directions and step-by-step photographs. “Imagine a fizzy, soda-like drink that is drier and so much more sophisticated than soda, what with the sugar and botanical ingredients. Shrubs! Amazing! Wonderful!!” —Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist

When it comes to reporting on politics, nobody does it smarter or funnier than bestselling author Molly Ivins. In Shrub, Ivins focuses her Texas-size smarts on the biggest politician in her home state: George Walker Bush, or "Shrub," as Ivins has nicknamed Bush the Younger. A candidate of vague speeches and an ambiguous platform, Bush leads the pack of GOP 2000 presidential hopefuls; "Dubya" could very well be our next president. What voters need now is an original, smart, and accessible analysis of Bush--one that leaves the "youthful indiscretions" to the tabloids and gets to the heart of his policies and motivations. Ivins is the perfect woman for the job. With her trademark wit and down-home wisdom, Molly Ivins shares three pieces of advice on judging a politician: "The first is to look at the record. The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record." In this book, Ivins takes a good, hard look at the record of the man who could be the leader of the free world. Beginning with his post-college military career, Ivins tracks Dubya's winding, sometimes unlikely path from a failed congressional bid to a two-term governorship. Bush has made plenty of friends and supporters along the way, including Texas oil barons, evangelist Billy Graham, and co-investors in the Texas Rangers baseball team. "You would have to work at it to dislike the man," she writes. But for all of Bush's likeability, Ivins points to a disconcerting lack of political passion from this ascending presidential candidate. In her words, "If you think his daddy had trouble with 'the vision thing,' wait till you meet this one." Witty, trenchant, and on target, Ivins gives a singularly perceptive and entertaining analysis of George W. Bush. To head to the voting booth without it would be downright un-American. From Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush " The past is prologue in politics. If a politician is left, right, weak, strong, given to the waffle or the flip-flop, or, as sometimes happens, an able soul who performs well under pressure, all that will be in the record." ¸ Bush's welfare record: "Texas pols like to 'git tuff' on crime, welfare, commies, and other bad stuff. Bush proposed to git tuff on welfare recipients by ending the allowance for each additional child--which in Texas is $38 a month." ¸ Bush and the Christian right: "Bush has learned to dance with the Christian right. It has been interesting and amusing to watch the process. Interesting because it's sometimes hard to tell who's leading and who's following; amusing because when a scion of Old Yankee money gets together with a televangelist with too much Elvis, the result is swell entertainment." ¸ Bush's environmental record: Since Governor Bush's election, Texas air quality has been rated the worst in the nation, leading all fifty states in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in the air, cancer risk, and ten other categories of pollutants. ¸ Bush's military career: "Bush was promoted as the Texas Air National Guard's anti-drug poster boy, one of life's little ironies given the difficulty he has had answering cocaine questions all these years later. 'George Walker Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn't get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed,' reads a Guard press release of 1970. 'Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics.'"

• Learn how to frame outdoor living spaces by selecting the best foundation of trees, shrubs, and woody vines. • Learn how to select woody plants for purpose, site adaptability, ornamental aspects, and care required. • Popular encyclopedia format illustrates features, uses, siting, and care for 250 woody plant species. • Detailed how-to for planting, pruning, maintenance, and pest control.

A resource on selecting woody plants for the home landscape covers every aspect of choosing trees and shrubs, with profiles of each plant's hardiness, cultivation requirements, history, size, growth rate, availability, and special characteristics, as well as complete maintenance and care guidelines.

In The Creative Shrub Garden, author Andy McIndoe calls on his years of horticultural design experience to shine light on all of the innovative ways to stylishly work shrubs into your landscape. This is a new approach to planning your garden—by mood and style. Whether it’s an urban contemporary look, a cottage garden feel, or an uplifting an environment, The Creative Shrub Garden has a wealth of eye-catching combinations that bring new life to this classic plant.

This guide provides information on all types of ornamental trees and shrubs for the ordinary garden including: choosing the right types, climbers and conifers, how to buy and plant, tree and shrub care and increasing your stock.

A practical, ordinary person's guide to choosing, planting, and caring for the world's most popular plants, Shrubs & Hedges delivers all the know-how you'll need to grow beautiful, healthy shrubs. Whether they're flowering shrubs or evergreen hedges, these long-lived plants fill a lot of space in our landscapes; yet they don't capture as much attention as perennials, annuals, and even trees. The front doors and picture windows of millions of houses world-wide are adorned by shrubs. Despite their ubiquity, selecting and maintaining shrubs remains a mystery to many. Shrubs are all-too-often inappropriately pruned into "meatball" shapes, or alternatively, left to become an overgrown tangle of branches. But as you'll discover in the pages of Shrubs & Hedges, when cared for properly, these workhorse plants have much to offer. They mask foundations, delineate property lines, increase privacy, stabilize soils, provide food for wildlife, and add beauty and interest to the landscape. It’s time for shrubs to take center stage. Shrubs & Hedges eliminates the ambiguities of shrub selection and care by offering: Advice on how to pick the best shrubs for your growing conditions Plant profiles of both dependable classic shrubs and new rising stars Step-by-step propagation instructions for making more shrubs—for free! Shrub identification tips A lesson on the value of hedges and hedgerows The best shrubs for pollinators and other wildlife Pruning illustrations and tips to maximize shrub performance and health Tips for designing with shrubs Drawing on her decades of experience in the plant-care and landscape industries, author and horticulture educator Eva Monheim proves you don’t have to be a “gardener” to see the value in this extensive group of plants.