Roots Demystified, by Robert Kourik

Roots Demystified: Change your gardening habits to help roots thrive, by Robert Kourik

“Roots Demystified is the only book in print for gardeners with such an extensive variety of root illustrations. There are twenty-five meticulous drawings produced by horticultural researchers who actually dug, troweled, dusted, mapped, and drew their way through entire growing root systems, down to the tiniest root. The resulting illustrations are a revelation of the beauty contained in the actual patterns, and habits of rooting plants. Guidelines also provide a home gardener with tips for the practical use of the new information.”

Richard Louv on the Sense of Wonder

Sharing a great piece on the Children and Nature Network site by Richard Louv:

Restoring Peace: Six Ways Nature in Our Lives Can Reduce the Violence in Our World.

Richard Louv is Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Children and Nature Network. He is the author of eight books, including “The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age” and “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” which has been translated into ten languages and published in fifteen countries.

Conserving Bumble Bees, Guidelines for Creating and Managing Habitat for America’s Declining Pollinators

Conserving Bumble Bees, Guidelines for Creating and Managing Habitat for America’s Declining Pollinators by Rich Hatfield, Sarina Jepsen, Eric Mader, Scott Hoffman Black and Matthew Shepherd

Bumble bees, key pollinators of crops and wildflowers across the country and essential for a healthy environment, are declining at an alarming rate. Bee biologists discovered that several previously common species are now absent from much of their former territory. Creating, protecting and restoring habitat is a very important way to conserve the populations of bees that remain. To help landowners and managers achieve this, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has just released Conserving Bumble Bees. Guidelines for Creating and Managing Habitat for America’s Declining Pollinators.

“These guidelines provide the information that land managers need, along with a set of straightforward strategies to guide the creation and management of good quality bumble bee habitat,” said Rich Hatfield, lead author and Xerces Society Conservation Associate. “By following these practices we can help to slow, stop, or potentially reverse recent population trends and help to maintain bumble bees as a productive part of our environment.”

“Save the Last Dance – A Story of North American Grassland Grouse”

“Save the Last Dance – A Story of North American Grassland Grouse” is a book project Noppadol Paothong, a conservation photographer, has been working on for over a decade.

This book demonstrates the unique captivating displays of North American grassland grouse, including greater, lesser, Attwater’s prairie-chicken, greater and Gunnison sage-grouse, plains and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, and and the conservation efforts to save these species.

Native Wildflower Coloring Books!

Pages taken from the ‘Wildflowers of Southwest Idaho‘ coloring book. The Idaho State Flower: Mock Orange, Philadelphus lewisii, and Scarlet Gilia, Ipomopsis aggregata.

Did you know the US Forest Service offers coloring books for Native Wildflowers? Each coloring book includes information about the wildflowers and drawings to color. You can print the entire coloring book or just the pages you want to color, from ‘California Plants‘ to ‘Wildflowers of Ponderosa Pine Forests‘. Celebrate Native Wildflowers!

Hedysarum boreale, Northern Sweetvetch

Northern Sweetvetch ranges from the Canadian arctic tundra into the southern Rockies. It is fairly common in the high plains, especially in the Rocky Mountain region, where it grows in fine textured, often clayey soils. It flowers in early summer or late spring. This species is not poisonous and, in fact, was historically collected and eaten by Indians. The roots especially are tasty (licorice-like) and nutritious.

Reference: Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary

Along Mountain Trails: A Guide to Northern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers & Berries

“Along Mountain Trails: A Guide to Northern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers & Berries”

Written by Doreen Marsh Dorward and Sally Randall Swanson, published by the Sawtooth Botanical Garden. This easy-to-use and informative guidebook is specific to the Wood River Valley (ID) and includes lots of useful information such as a vocabulary glossary, an illustrated glossary, proper plant nomenclature and general information about time of year plants are visible and some interesting facts. Each plant has a close-up color image for identification. -Rocky Mountain Express

1972 Cat in the Hat Productions, The Lorax

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, is a book title held close to the heart of CSR, Inc. You can win a copy of this title by entering our Earth Day Book Giveaway!

2012 Earth Day Giveaway!

In honor of Earth Day 2012, Conservation Seeding and Restoration Inc. is offering up three of our favorite reads, straight from the CSR bookshelf. Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Updated and Expanded, by Douglas W. Tallamy, A Sand County Almanac; with essays on conservation from Round River, by Aldo Leopold and The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss.

To be entered into this giveaway, simply leave a comment in today’s post sharing how you are celebrating Earth Day 2012.

Every action counts. From riding your bike to work, fixing that leaky faucet or planting a container herb garden. Together we can make a difference.

The winner will be chosen (by random number generator) and announced here in this post on Monday, April 23rd, 2012. One entry per person, please. Good luck!

Congratulations to blog reader, Leanne! You were chosen to be CSR’s Earth Day 2012 book giveaway winner!

Idaho Mountain Wildflowers, by A. Scott Earle

Idaho Mountain Wildflowers: A Photographic Compendium, by A. Scott Earl, contains more than 300 images of wildflowers from 35 different families found in Central Idaho and throughout the West. Each flower features a writeup and color photograph.

Dr. Scott Earle’s love of mountains dates from World War II service in the Army’s 10th Mountain Division in Camp Hale, Colorado. Following World War II, he attended medical school and subsequently trained as a surgeon. Dr. Earle practiced surgery in Sun Valley, Idaho, for more than a decade, then accepted an appointment to the faculty of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. He spends much of the year in the mountains of Idaho. A lifelong love of nature, mountains and photography is reflected in this book.