Lavishly illustrated with nearly three hundred gorgeous full-color photos, this engaging guidebook carefully describes forty different edible species of wild mushrooms found around Illinois and surrounding states, including Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky. With conversational and witty prose, the book provides extensive detail on each edible species, including photographs of potential look-alikes to help you safely identify and avoid poisonous species. Mushroom lovers from Chicago to Cairo will find their favorite local varieties, including morels, chanterelles, boletes, puffballs, and many others. Veteran mushroom hunters Joe McFarland and Gregory M. Mueller also impart their wisdom about the best times and places to find these hidden gems.

Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States also offers practical advice on preparing, storing, drying, and cooking with wild mushrooms, presenting more than two dozen tantalizing mushroom recipes from some of the best restaurants and chefs in Illinois, including one of Food & Wine magazine's top 10 new chefs of 2007. Recipes include classics like Beer Battered Morels, Parasol Mushroom Frittatas, and even the highly improbable (yet delectable) Morel Tiramisu for dessert.

As the first new book about Illinois mushrooms in more than eighty years, this is the guide that mushroom hunters and cooks have been craving.

Visit the book's companion website at www.illinoismushrooms.com.

The ultimate, fully illustrated guide to plant selection and gardening in the Prairie State. With its northeastern edge seated on the shores of Lake Michigan, Illinois offers some of the United States' most fertile farmlands. But as any midwesterner knows, the entire region's weather can turn on a dime, and keeping plant life alive in such a widely varying climate can be difficult for gardeners of all skill levels. In Illinois Getting Started Garden Guide, born-and-bred midwestern gardener Shawna Coronado showcases more than 150 plant species destined for success throughout all of Illinois--from flowers and shrubs, such as the blazing star and the beautiful early-spring-flowering witchhazel, to trees and vines, such as the ginkgo and the exquisite clematis. Each entry features full-color photography, plant-name pronunciation, helpful icons denoting sun/shade requirements and plant qualities, instructions for how to bring the plant from transplant to maturity, and even recommendations for what you should plant nearby. If you're not sure where to start, official color-coded USDA maps let you know your plant hardiness zone. So whether you're planting in a windy Chicago suburb, prepping for a frigid winter in Galena, or anticipating a rainy spring in Mt. Vernon, Illinois Getting Started Garden Guide gives you all the information you need for a colorful, diverse home landscape.