Helen Ross Russell has published – just before her 94th birthday -- a stunning pictographic history of “the most abundant and widely distributed wild plant in the temperate zones of the world”. Golden Flowers of the Sun: Dandelion, charms the reader with brilliantly colored, bold, spirited illustrations by MJ McFalls and the unfolding story of how the dandelion traveled the world.

The text is fresh and full of praise for this familiar plant, like a conversation with Dr. Russell, a brilliant naturalist, award-winning author and celebrated science educator. Dandelion is a good read silently or aloud and, with some explanation, is accessible to children eight years and up. As a pictographic history, young and old alike will enjoy it.

In a few places, the flow of text is uncertain, out of order or abrupt, like a conversation with an elder (or an editor’s oversight). Although a leap in placement – page 20 and 21 were intended to follow pages 22 and 23 – there is an exquisite description of a “floret” and of the opening and closing of a dandelion flower responding to day and night. Here is botanical writing at its best. Likewise, the painterly illustration of flower bud to scattering seed, page 28, is as skillful as it is joyful.

"An artful combination of traveling around the world and traveling through history," comments Michele Sola, Director of Manhattan Country School where Helen Ross Russell taught for three decades and pioneered using her vast historical and cultural knowledge of plants with faculty and young children.

Dr. Russell’s other titles include: Ten-Minute Field Trips, City Critters, Winter Search Party, and Journey Through the Twentieth Century.

Judy Isacoff, M.A., is an environmental arts consultant and writer. She may be reached at environmentarts@taconic.net and Manhattan Country School, 7 East 96 Street, NYC.

This book was written to remove the cloud of mystique that has always surrounded the dahlia. The Dahlia Primer introduces the dahlia its history, its parts, and its forms/types, and varieties, to those gardeners who like to experience the old and the new in horticulture.

With its 15 plus different forms/types, six sizes of blooms ranging from two inches to twelve plus. There are thousands of ways this beautiful flower will give the gardener much pleasure whether grown for the home or for show.

The writer’s wish is that, after reading this book, you will go out and buy a dahlia tuber or two or three...

This book was written to remove the cloud of mystique that has always surrounded the dahlia. The Dahlia Primer introduces the dahlia its history, its parts, and its forms/types, and varieties, to those gardeners who like to experience the old and the new in horticulture.

With its 15 plus different forms/types, six sizes of blooms ranging from two inches to twelve plus. There are thousands of ways this beautiful flower will give the gardener much pleasure whether grown for the home or for show.

The writer’s wish is that, after reading this book, you will go out and buy a dahlia tuber or two or three...

Alan M. Cvancara has nurtured a passion for wildflowers for more than 40 years. His early photographs of them were mostly records, but later evolved to artistic images. He likes to take wildflower novices on walks, immerse them in their floral subjects, and test them on identification until they learn in spite of themselves. Alan hopes that greater acquaintance with wildflowers will lead to their greater protection. Alan is a retired geology professor and the author of five nature books: Edible Wild Plants and Herbs, A Field Manual for the Amateur Geologist, Exploring Nature in Winter, Sleuthing Fossils, and At the Water’s Edge. With his wife, Ella J. Cvancara, he has co-authored Back Trip: A Journey Into Perseverance, a chronicle of a chronic back pain victim, and Windows Into Legacy, a poetry-photography book. This book is an introduction to the diverse world of wildflowers. Twenty-seven close-up flower portraits reveal fascinating floral details. The photographs, with accompanying essays for each, allow you to gain insight into what makes a flower, its purpose, and further appreciation of nature’s beauty. And likened to the traits of a human, the photographic portraits and essays reveal a wildflower’s personality. Meaningful additions to this book include comments on wildflower therapy, wildflower quotations, and tips on creating artistic wildflower portraits.

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Showy Wildflowers is a picture book and guide to 48 wildflowers that readily attract attention because of their color, pattern, and symmetry. Before long, the beginner, armed with this book, can identify a number of wildflowers, even from a moving vehicle. Although this book covers a relatively small area in some detail near Casper in east-central Wyoming, it can be used with benefit in much of the Rocky Mountain West. This book provides 2 sets of wildflower tallies with composite checklists from informal surveys taken while on slow, observant hikes. In time, such tallies record what changes can be expected during the flowering season. These tallies and checklists may serve as models for experiencing wildflowers in other places. Showy Wildflowers also gives tips on photographing wildflowers. Experiencing the beauty of a wildflower is one gratifying sensation. Creating an appealing image of that experience is an extension of that sensation. And that sensation heightens when the image becomes artistic. I hope some of my images stimulate photographic creativity.