OAKWOOD — The pink and yellow roses at the farm west of Oakwood bloom in tribute to Mary Cranston Green, who planted some of them many years ago.

And now, another tribute to that remarkable woman has been released in the form of a book written by her granddaughter, Katherine R. “Kit” Inman.

Inman, 91, of Sterling, Va., was in town last week to sign copies of her book, “Rose Haven Farm: The Life of Mary Cranston Green, a Wise and Wonderful Woman, 1867-1965.”

The book, published by Mayhaven Publishing of Mahomet, recounts the struggles of Green, who raised seven children alone, and her accomplishments, including attending the first classes at the University of Illinois that allowed women.

When she lived at the farm, Green was known for her roses.

She had planted 300 rose bushes that her husband brought to her from a trip selling their farm produce. At least one of those rose bushes, now more than 100 years old, still thrives on the Green farm.

People would stop and admire the roses, Inman said, and the flowers bloomed all along the road and both sides of the driveway.

Green moved to Urbana to raise her children after her husband, Lincoln, died. But she returned to Oakwood in the 1940s with her son, Roy, and lived there until a couple of years before her death.

Dolores Green now owns the farm and her son, Kevin, and his wife, Sue, manage it. Dolores’ late husband, Gail, was Inman’s cousin. The Greens’ barn can be seen from Interstate 74, near Oakwood.

Dolores said when I-74 came along, it went through the middle of Rose Haven, and a county road took out more flowers.

However, the family dug up some of the flowers and replanted them.

“It’s amazing,” Dolores said. “Every year they come out and it’s a sea of roses.”

Besides being known for her green thumb, Mary Green had many other talents and qualities, Inman told people at the book signing last week.

One was her resourcefulness.

When Green’s husband Lincoln committed suicide and left her with seven children, one of them small, she turned the farm over to her brother-in-law temporarily, and she and her children moved to Urbana — so she could see that they all attended the U of I.

At least 37 of Green’s descendants have graduated from there, Inman said, including herself, her husband and three children.

Mary Green made braided rugs, took photographs (and developed and printed them herself), studied botany and astronomy at college (without having graduated from high school), collected wildflowers and did watercolors of them, and was talented in making afghans and similar items.

She also wrote a history of Oakwood.

Green also had taught in a one-room school house in the Gibson City area when she graduated from eighth grade. She knew the importance of education, and stressed that to her family.

Regarding her personality, she was calm and always willing to help others without intruding, and shared wise sayings.

“I admired my grandmother so much, I thought she should be perpetuated,” Inman said. “I’m so proud of her.” Green’s eldest daughter was Inman’s mother.

As a child, Inman visited her grandmother every year at Christmas.

“I knew her very well. I’ll never forget her. She was my ideal,” she said.

At 91, Inman has had many accomplishments herself, having written other books, short stories and 739 poems. She also has taught oil painting and Bible studies.

“I’ve had a wonderful life,” she said. “I can’t tell you how blessed I’ve been.”

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