In a Green Shade: Writings from Homeground

Since 1993, truly fortunate gardeners have been those who have subscribed to Allen Lacy's HOMEGROUND, a quarterly newsletter. Now over a hundred pieces of writing taken from this lively periodical appear as IN A GREEN SHADE. Many of them grow from the author's thirty years of experience transforming a small suburban lot into a private Eden, with its woodland garden, its cottage garden, and its extensive deck and container gardens. Readers will find thoughtful discussions of perennials, annuals, and woody plants, as well as the tropical and subtropical plants that are of such keen interest today. After taking in Lacy's spirited recommendations, they will find themselves unable to do without the daffodil called 'Hawera', the hosta 'Sum and Substance', fragrant-leaved geraniums, or the Roughneck Stool from Rubbermaid (a weeder's helper). IN A GREEN SHADE also travels farther afield, commenting on botanical history and such matters as the perennial conflict between gardeners and television weather reporters, or between proponents of native plants and their more cosmopolitan colleagues. As Henry Mitchell wrote of Lacy's THE GARDEN IN AUTUMN, "Among other virtues, it is based on firsthand experience by a gardener who happens to be an admirable writer."