Mary A Agria

Award-winning garden writer Mary Agria tackles the challenge of multi-climate gardening in An Itinerant Gardener's Book of Days, a year-long journey through the world of gardens and gardeners. Sunbirds and Snowbirds from California to New York, Northern Michigan to the Desert Southwest will find humor, inspiration, technical tips and a fascinating glimpse into the history of gardens, calendars, ancient gardening customs and so much more in this thoughtful glimpse into the gardener's life. Author Agria was winner of the Michigan Garden Clubs' feature writing competitions in 2017, 2018 and 2019 for her column on gardening and spirituality that has run in Northern Michigan newspapers since 2006. Fifty-two of the columns were also featured in her previous work, Through the Gardener's Year. Her gardening novels-Time in a Garden a regional best-seller in 2006], Garden of Eve, From the Tender Stem and Range of Motion 2019]-have also won her acclaim from readers and reviewers from coast to coast.

Author Mary Agria continues her love affair with Northern Michigan and gardens in this novel about the power of new beginnings--as long-time Little Traverse Bay cottager Maggie Aron struggles to confront her own mortality and the 'sciatica of the soul' that can rob life of its meaning and hope. Range of Motion offers powerful insights into the nature of community and the resilience it takes to keep growing no matter what the future holds.

Fifty-two weeks of gardening columns from regional, best-selling author Mary Agria. Illustrated throughout, the book is a perfect addition to every gardeners' library. The columns originally appeared monthly in the Petoskey News-Review, Petoskey, Michigan from 2007-2014. The author has a unique grasp of the connection of gardening to spirituality, and to life lessons learned from the garden.

Third in the Life in the Garden Series. Sequel to regional best seller, Time in a Garden,and Garden of Eve. "Love grows from tender shoots,rooted deep in the rich soil of human experience." Northern Michigan garden writer, Eve Brennerman,has known both love and unthinkable loss. Even as she makes a pact with herself to rediscover life at its fullest, what she learns about love and its opposite will shake her idyllic rural Eden to its foundations. Tender Stem is a love song to the power of rediscovering what grounds us...whatever our age or stage in life. As Eve writes, "I have got to believe we are never too old to learn."

Grief-stricken at the death of his wife and unborn child, Political Science Professor A. J. Ferinelli buries himself in his teaching and scholarly research...that is, until Math Instructor Sam Pomerantz shows up accusing the Academic Dean of sexual harassment. Drawn into her quest for justice, A.J. finds himself caught up in a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal and violence that threatens to destroy the college and with it his faith in higher education itself as a community of learning. "Things change, stuff happens, death is just a matter of time. Inevitable. But not everybody lives. That choice is ours...and ours alone..." "A winner...Agria captures academia with knowledge and sensitivity. Characters show beautiful personal growth."

A fascinating glimpse of RV culture, IN TRANSIT tells of a woman's struggle to redefine what it means to be at "home" with herself in the face of the toughest challenges life has to offer. The 3 years that Lib and her husband spend on the road in a motor home after selling their home are the happiest they have ever known. Widowed at 64 and "homeless" except for her RV, Lib moves in with her adult children--overwhelmed by an uncertain future. When she finds the strength to return to the campground on Michigan's UP where her world as she knew it came so tragically to an end, it is not just to reclaim her vehicle but her hopes and dreams for independence. She discovers that even in that tiny community along the shores of Lake Michigan, she is not the only one facing transitions and in need of healing. As her personal journey becomes tied to the stories of those around her, Lib learns that she is capable of far more than just survival in the brave new world she is choosing for herself.

Laced with gardening tips, wit and wisdom, TIME IN A GARDEN is an inspiring story of emotional and spiritual growth...for gardeners of all ages, for mothers and daughters, and anyone struggling to bloom where they are planted. Retired and in their sixties, Eve Brenneman and Adam Groft land in an unlikely Eden, helping a crew of senior citizens beautify their dying rural community by creating a perennial garden along an interstate offramp. Eve is widowed, estranged from her daughters. Adam has spent a lifetime avoiding relationships and expectations that he run the family nursery business. When Eve starts writing a garden column in the local county weekly, these unforgettable characters embark on a heartwarming, poignant journey to discover love and meaning and cope with growth and loss in the changing season of their lives. In Eve's words: "We all do battle with stony ground and unseasonable dry spells over the years. Though we may not call ourselves gardeners, it is the human experience."