Saint Mark’s Church in the Bowery, nestled in Manhattan’s East Village, is one of New York City’s oldest churches and is said to be one of its most haunted. Its eerie reputation stretches back to the 17th century, entwined with the legacy of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam, who ruled from […]

A roundup of mysterious, paranormal and strange news stories from the past week.

From Fairy Tales to Your Garden, Enchanted Plants is an illustrated treasure trove to the lore and magic of the kingdom of plants. Take a walk through mystical, magical, and historical gardens to discover cultivars and edible plants that have captured our hearts and minds for centuries. Will you dare to pick a golden apple or seize the perfect rose? Sneak through the iron gates of the poison garden where the lascivious and life-saving plants intertwine. Gallop through meadow grass, skirt the boggy glen, amble through woodlands where magical plants beckon from the forest floor. Plant lover and lover of the bizarre Varla Ventura brings together forgotten lore with the magic and medicine of plants for the ultimate romp through a botanical wonderland. Includes excerpts from fairy tales and a lively discussion of each plant’s magical and medicinal properties. Enchanted Plants is arranged by general environment, such as • cultivated plants and edibles; • toxic plants; • meadowlands; • the woods; • marshes and swamps; and • tropical plants. Each chapter contains a cultivated selection of plants, arranged alphabetically by popular common name, with additional information including botanical name, additional “common” names, folklore, ethnobotanical properties, magical and occult properties, and modern usage, if applicable. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Varla A. Ventura is the author of several books, including Fairies, Pookas, and Changelings: A Complete Guide to the Wild and Wicked Enchanted Realm. As a lover of all things strange, Varla’s interests extend into the weirdness and magic of the plant kingdom. With a deep fascination for folklore and medicinal plants, she has been studying herbalism and botany for more than thirty years. Her plant knowledge comes from a combination of experimentation, formal classes in botany, and working in the horticultural industry for fifteen years. She ran a retail nursery in Portland, Oregon, as well as in San Francisco, California, and operated her own landscaping business for more than ten years. She is also the botanical brain behind Rotten Botany, a website dedicated to unusual plants. When not writing, she can be found wandering around the Minnesota woods and tending her poison garden.