Famous Trees of Texas was first published in 1970 by the Texas Forest Service (now Texas A&M Forest Service), an organization created in 1915 and charged with protecting and sustaining the forests, trees, and other related natural resources of Texas.For the 100-year anniversary of TFS, the agency presents a new edition of this classic book, telling the stories of 101 trees throughout the state.Some are old friends, featured in the first edition and still alive (27 ...

A blend of history, science, philosophy, and environmentalism, The Tree is an engaging and elegant look at the life of the tree and what modern research tells us about their future.There are redwoods in California that were ancient by the time Columbus first landed, and pines still alive that germinated around the time humans invented writing. There are Douglas firs as tall as skyscrapers, and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football field.Fr...

"Bonsai art is the display of a landscape - without the landscape."?--NobuKajiwara ?This quote couldn't be truer. Growing and sculpting bonsai trees can be quite a satisfying hobby. It is a hobby however, that requires a tremendous amount of patience. When you take a simple sapling and mould it to your desire, you'll be rewarded with a beautiful piece of art you can truly be proud of!?The term bonsai literally means plant in a pot or tray planting. Bonsai however is much more than simply a...

WINNER OF THE 2018 JOHN BURROUGHS MEDAL FOR OUTSTANDING NATURAL HISTORY WRITING“Both a love song to trees, an exploration of their biology, and a wonderfully philosophical analysis of their role they play in human history and in modern culture.” —Science FridayThe author of Sounds Wild and Broken and the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen visits with nature’s most magnificent networkers — trees...

Dismissed by the first Spanish explorers as a wasteland, the Grand Canyon lay virtually unnoticed for three centuries until nineteenth- century America rediscovered it and seized it as a national emblem. This extraordinary work of intellectual and environmental history tells two tales of the Canyon: the discovery and exploration of the physical Canyon and the invention and evolution of the cultural Canyon--how we learned to endow it with mythic significance.Acclaimed historian Step...

Though the Republic of Texas existed as a sovereign nation for just nine years, the legacy lives on in the names that distinguish the landscape of the Lone Star State. Austin, Houston, Travis, Lamar, Seguin, Burnet, Bowie, Zavala, Crockett--these historical giants, often at odds, fought through their differences to achieve freedom from Mexico and Santa Anna, establishing a republic fit to be the twenty-eighth state to join the Union. In nineteen historical tales, Jeffery Robenalt chronicle...

Start your engines and follow the backroads, the historical paths, and the scenic landscape that were fashioned by geologic Ice Ages and traveled by Big Thicket explorers as well as contemporary park advocatesall as diverse as the Big Thicket itself. From Spanish missionaries to Jayhawkers, and from timber barons to public officials, you will meet some unusual characters who inhabited an exceptional region. The Big Thicket and its National Preserve contain plants and animals from deserts a...

Char Miller's collection of essays provides an insightful survey of San Antonio and South Texas. The essays are grouped into six thematic sections: an overview; natural and environmental history; water issues; urban development; politics; and the city's future. Miller describes the First Friday Art Walks in Southtown, where the promenade reenacts the pedestrian traffic envisioned by the San Antonio founders when they planned the city around a central square and cathedral. He recreates the ...

**“Far-ranging and deeply researched, Urban Forests reveals the beauty and significance of the trees around us.” *—*Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction“Jonnes extols the many contributions that trees make to city life and celebrates the men and women who stood up for America’s city trees over the past two centuries. . . . An authoritative account.” —Gerard Helferich, The Wall Street Journal“We all know that tre...

Tom Miller's On the Border frames the land between the United States and Mexico as a Third Country, one 2,000 miles long and twenty miles wide. This Third Country has its own laws and its own outlaws. Its music, language, and food are unique. On the Border, a first-person travel narrative, portrays this bi-national culture, "unforgettable to every reader lucky enough to discover this gem of southwestern Americana." ( San Diego Union-Tribune) It's a "deftly writte...

R.H. Wessel was the owner, editor, and publisher of the Frederick Enterprise / Frederick Press, and a leading citizen from the day he first came to Frederick, Oklahoma, in 1902 until his death in 1956. He is best known for his column "The Observer," for which this book is titled. He left behind a considerable legacy of his adventurous life through letters, photographs, documents, and historic files. His experiences in Lawton during the 1901 Land Lottery and the following homestead years in...

In a beautiful tribute to the natural heritage of the Lone Star State, photographer Ralph Yznaga celebrates the strong connections between Texans and their trees. Inspired by the old Texas Forest Service book, Famous Trees of Texas, Yznaga has captured the continuing attachment we have to these magnificent reminders of our culture and history. Stunning images, stories, a detailed map, and driving directions to thirty-seven famous (and infamous) trees help us appreciate how entwine...