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A practical guide to designing and maintaining shade gardens while dealing with a changing climate, shrinking resources, and challenging new weather patterns.-- Source other than Library of Congress.

The author of The Natural Shade Garden offers a comprehensive new guide to climate-conscious gardening--beautifully illustrated with 400 photos.There is a new generation of gardeners who are planting gardens not only for their visual beauty but also for their ability to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

When Victoria meets Moonshine, an ex-racehorse saved from the slaughterhouse and abuse, she despairs at having to ride such a difficult horse. The pair compete in dressage, a sport that tests the unity of horse and rider as they engage in what can only be called dancing. They compete against horses bred solely for the sport, always struggling to overcome the bias against horses like Moony. As she grows and comes of age, Victoria teaches Moonshine to trust, and Moony teaches Victoria the importance of heart and perseverance. Together, they master many trials and compete in the Junior Nationals in this inspiring and compelling true story of how a girl and her horse changed each other lives forever.

The yield of crops in both agrivoltaic (AV) and agroforestry (AF) systems is difficult to predict. The shade pattern of an AV system is not typical and is quite different from the one of AF systems. Most countries allow AV systems on croplands only if the crop productivity is maintained (e.g., in France) or slightly reduced, as in Japan and Germany, with 80% and 66% minimum relative yield (RY) required, respectively. I suggest using the Ground Coverage Ratio (GCR: ratio of area of photovoltaic panels to area of land) as an indicator of the crop potential productivity in AV systems. The GCR can easily be computed and controlled for all kinds of AV systems with panels that are either fixed (horizontal, tilted, or vertical) or mobile (on 1- or 2-axis trackers). Here, I provide a synthesis of published data for crop productivity under AV systems. Only publications that provided both the GCR of the system and the crop RYs were included. Measuring RYs requires a reliable non-AV control plot. Several publications were excluded because of doubts regarding the measurements’ validity (e.g., systems that are too small, resulting in strong edge effects, or unreliable control plots). Despite the scattering of results, a clear pattern is evidenced: RYs decrease rapidly when GCRs increase. It appears that a GCR < 25% is required to ensure that most crop RYs stay > 80%. These results are consistent with a recent meta-analysis examining the impact of shade on crops. The use of the GCR criterion to validate AV projects is a simple and cost-effective alternative to the tricky control of crop yields in the fields.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of bleaching pen and bleaching mouthwash to remove coffee stains from teeth surfaces and single-shade resin composite restorations by assessing their Vita Classic shades, changes in the Shade Guide Units (ΔSGU) and color differences (∆E00). In addition, a control group subjected to simulated toothbrushing with non-whitening toothpaste was included for comparison. Class V cavities were prepared in the labial surfaces of 30 extracted sound anterior teeth and restored with single-shade resin composite. The restored teeth were immersed in coffee at 37 °C for 12 days. The stained restored teeth were randomly distributed into three groups (n = 10): Group 1: teeth subjected to simulated toothbrushing with non-whitening toothpaste for one week (control), while groups 2 and 3 were divided according to the bleaching system applied for one week as follows: Group 2: bleaching pen and Group 3: bleaching mouthwash. Using a spectrophotometer (Vita Easy Shade V, Germany), the color was measured before and after coffee staining as well as after toothbrushing or bleaching in each tooth at the middle 1/3 (tooth surface) and cervical 1/3 (restoration). The assessment was performed in two approaches: (a) Vita Classic shades which were used to calculate ΔSGU (b) Color parameters which were utilized to assess the color difference (ΔE00). After coffee staining, the color changes were higher in the teeth surfaces (ΔSGU = 7 and ΔE00=23.8) than restorations (ΔSGU = 4 and ΔE00=8.3). These color changes were unacceptable in both the teeth and resin composite restorations (exceeding the acceptability threshold; ΔE00=1.8). The effect of toothbrushing in removing coffee stains was significantly lower than the bleaching pen and the bleaching mouthwash in both resin composite restorations and teeth (least ΔE00, P = 0.0001). After toothbrushing, the shade of the stained restorations did not change than that after coffee (ΔSGU = 0), while the shade of the stained teeth became slight lighter but still darker than the baseline. After applying the bleaching pen or the bleaching mouthwash, the color returned to the baseline in both the restorations and teeth (ΔSGU = 0). Using the ΔE00 to compare the stain removal potentials of both bleaching pen and bleaching mouthwash, there were no significant differences between them in both resin composite restorations and teeth at cervical and middle one-thirds (P = 0.1 and 0.2, respectively). Toothbrushing with non-whitening toothpaste partially reduced coffee stains, but not completely. In contrast, bleaching pens and bleaching mouthwashes effectively removed coffee discoloration from both teeth and single-shade resin composite. Color changes could be assessed using the Vita Classic shade guide unit differences (ΔSGU) and color difference (ΔE₀₀).

Shade stress induces significant metabolic reallocation in soybeans, altering both nutritional composition and adaptation strategies to low-light environments. Using Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) of the shade-sensitive variety C103, we identified 19 differential metabolites (Variable Importance in Projection, VIP > 1; p  < 0.05), including 9 upregulated metabolites—such as essential amino acids—that may enhance protein quality under shade. Conversely, 10 metabolites, primarily key flavonoids like daidzein and genistin, were downregulated, indicating potential compromises in antioxidant capacity and stress resilience. Shade stress markedly reshaped the phenylpropanoid pathway, particularly affecting the biosynthesis of isoflavones, anthocyanins, and lignin. Shade-tolerant varieties displayed elevated isoflavone and anthocyanin accumulation while moderating lignin synthesis, reflecting a strategic focus on metabolites with adaptive and health-promoting functions. In contrast, shade-sensitive varieties prioritized lignin production at the expense of isoflavones, potentially reducing their nutritional and functional value. Organ-specific responses were evident: in C103 seedlings, roots maintained sustained isoflavone accumulation under moderate shade (Red/Far-Red ratio, R/FR = 0.7), while leaves showed a decline with prolonged exposure. These results highlight a metabolic trade-off between defense investment and energy conservation in different tissues. Overall, this study underscores the pivotal role of metabolic reallocation—especially within the phenylpropanoid pathway—in mediating soybean shade adaptation and nutritional traits. By integrating metabolomic profiling with pathway analysis, our findings offer new insights for breeding and management strategies to enhance soybean performance and sustainability under low-light conditions.

The purpose of this research was to examine the performance of agrivoltaic systems, which produce crops and electricity simultaneously, by installing stilt-mounted photovoltaic (PV) panels on farmland. As PV power stations enjoy remarkable growth, land occupation with the purpose of establishing solar farms will intensify the competition for land resources between food and clean energy production. The results of this research showed, however, that the stilt-mounted agrivoltaic system can mitigate the trade-off between crop production and clean energy generation even when applied to corn, a typical shade-intolerant crop. The research was conducted at a 100-m2 experimental farm with three sub-configurations: no modules (control), low module density, and high module density. In each configuration, 9 stalks/m2 were planted 0.5 m apart. The biomass of corn stover grown in the low-density configuration was larger than that of the control configuration by 4.9%. Also, the corn yield per square meter of the low-density configuration was larger than that of the control by 5.6%. The results of this research should encourage more conventional farmers, clean energy producers, and policy makers to consider adopting stilt-mounted PV systems, particularly in areas where land resources are relatively scarce.

Plant pathogens affect the fitness of their hosts and maintain biodiversity. However, we lack theories to predict the type and intensity of infections in wild plants. Here we demonstrate using fungal pathogens of tropical plants that an examination of the life histories of hosts and pathogens can reveal general patterns in their interactions. Fungal infections were more commonly reported for light-demanding than for shade-tolerant species and for evergreen rather than for deciduous hosts. Both patterns are consistent with classical defence theory, which predicts lower resistance in fast-growing species and suggests that the deciduous habit can reduce enemy populations. In our literature survey, necrotrophs were found mainly to infect shade-tolerant woody species whereas biotrophs dominated in light-demanding herbaceous hosts. Far-red signalling and its inhibitory effects on jasmonic acid signalling are likely to explain this phenomenon. Multiple changes between the necrotrophic and the symptomless endophytic lifestyle at the ecological and evolutionary scale indicate that endophytes should be considered when trying to understand large-scale patterns in the fungal infections of plants. Combining knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of pathogen resistance with classical defence theory enables the formulation of testable predictions concerning general patterns in the infections of wild plants by fungal pathogens.