Stretching from western Texas and eastern New Mexico up through Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas, and into Canada, the vast western plains often appear sparse and dry to the casual observer. But a closer look, especially after spring rains, uncovers flowers of all colors, sizes, shapes, and fragrances. These forgotten flowers, never before the main focus of a field guide, come into bloom in Wildflowers of the Western Plains. Organized by plant family, the guide presents 186 species of wildflowers, accompanied by vivid color photographs. Each entry includes both the Latin and common names and a description of the plant, flower, fruit, and range. A special feature of the guide is the inclusion of Native American botanical folklore, legends pertaining to wildflowers, and medicinal uses of native plants. The author's personal observations and occasional recipes round out this delightful array of information.

Features profiles and uses for cultivated herbs (astragalus, calendula, chamomile, comfrey, echinacea, elder, garlic, lemon balm, motherwort, peppermint, sage, valerian) and wild herbs (burdock, coltsfoot, dandelion, mullein, nettle, plantain, red clover, red raspberry, self-heal, St. John's wort, yarrow, yellow dock).

Everything you ever wanted to know about each month, including weather, animal behavior, plant growth, zodiac signs, birthstones and flowers, holidays, historic events, famous people born that month, and a story to wrap it all up.

So often, the thought of death evokes our worst fears. We anticipate the opposite of anything we call living. Yet, something different happens when we invite death into the conversation of our lives, for it enters alongside all the gratitude, love, and beauty. Death reveals these gifts as often as tragedy and pain. Around the bedside of the dying, we learn an intimacy that includes the entirety of the human experience. We open rather than fight or run. We gaze into the eyes of death to ask what shines through all the brokenness. What remains? Amita Lhamo uses her luminous stories to reveal the power of simple human kindness and the profundity of being. Within such places, souls peek through the soft spaces of broken hearts like dandelions blooming in the cracks of sidewalks. No matter which way we turn, we find one garden, one ground-we discover the wonder of any heart.

Now available in paperback, The Secrets of Wildflowers is destined to be an indispensable book for anyone who loves and admires the natural world. Few things in nature beautify the world more than wildflowers. Their countless colors and endless designs are found almost anywhere—from fields to woods, deserts to ponds, and even in junkyards, dumps, and cracks in the pavement. The Secrets of Wildflowers, Jack Sanders’s colorful tribute, is bursting with odd facts and wonderful superstitions about some of North America’s most beautiful and common plants. Reader's will find natural history, folklore, habitats, horticulture, ingenious uses past and present, origins of names, and even their literary pedigrees. Far richer and eminently more varied than any field guide, The Secrets of Wildflowers contains more than 100 species of North American wildflowers organized by blooming seasons. Wildflowers are not just pretty to look at; they are an essential part of our environment. How they grow and what they do are often overlooked, and how they have been used has largely been forgotten. They feed insects, birds, animals, and even humans. They hold and condition the soil, and they are used in modern medicines and natural remedies and appear throughout history in art and literature. The Secrets of Wildflowersprovides detailed information on more than one hundred representative species of North American wildflowers.

When Lily was eleven years old, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family, never to be seen or heard from again. Now, as a new mother herself, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls the spring of 1987, growing up in a small British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families; Lily’s previously stateless father wanted them to blend seamlessly into Canadian life, while her mother, alienated and isolated, longed to return to Asia. Years later, still affected by Swee Hua’s disappearance, Lily’s family is nonetheless stubbornly silent to her questioning. But eventually, an old family friend provides a clue that sends Lily to Southeast Asia to find out the truth. Winner of the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, Dandelion is a beautifully written and affecting novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness. With clarity and care, it delves into the many ways we define home, identity, and above all, belonging.

Everything you ever wanted to know about each month, including weather, animal behavior, plant growth, zodiac signs, birthstones and flowers, holidays, historic events, famous people born that month, and a story to wrap it all up.