Book Review Corner

Bobby Ward Reviews

The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession

by Amy Stewart

I have been a fan of Amy Stewart’s writings for many years. A couple of notable books come to mind: “Flower Confidential” (2007), about the cut-flower industry and plant breeders looking for that perfect flower—a blue rose, perhaps? and “The Drunken Botanist” (2013), a survey of the numerous plants worldwide that have been fermented and concocted over the centuries into alcoholic drinks—just check them out at your local liquor store and you’ll find all had their origins as plants. Now comes a new book from Stewart, “The Tree Collectors” (Random House, 2024), containing profiles of some 50 people who have obsessively bonded with trees in multiple and varied ways. Stewart illustrates the book with her watercolor portraits of these extraordinary people and the trees, fruits, and flowers they obsess over. In brief, you’ll meet a world of enthusiasts, curators, ecologists, preservationists, educators, artists and more who will introduce you to plant societies and a community of “collectors” whose passions are without bounds.

She covers a broad swath of tree aficionados: a topiarist (Mike Gibson), now in South Carolina, who originally began creating topiaries in Ohio and learned of the abstract art created by Pearl Fryar in Bishopville, South Carolina, whose work “closely resembled a Picasso or Henry Moore sculpture than clipped boxwoods.” Gibson helped restore the Fryar garden and now teaches nearby in Columbia.

In “The Tree Collectors” you will meet bonsai artists; rare fruit trees in Brazil; a camellia preservationist in Louisiana; pine cone, seed, leaf, and wood collectors; an arboretum at a nursing home for the chronic mentally ill in Poland; an expatriate’s arboretum in Chollipo, South Korea; zone pushers of tropical plants in Idaho; an Arctic arborist in Greenland; holly, apple, ginkgo, and magnolia collectors; champion trees; and the oak trees given to Olympic gold medal winners in Germany in 1936 (Jesse Owens received four Quercus robur)—and some places these oaks were planted around the world and are still surviving.

The Pulitzer-winning poet, W. S. Merwin moved to Hawaii and eventually turned nineteen acres of land, hoping to return it to a native rainforest. Over three decades he planted hundreds of palms, at the rate of one a day. The rarest he acquired was Tahina spectabilis, native to Madagascar, a gift from a palm specialist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Merwin is quoted as saying, “On the last day of the world, I would want to plant a tree.”
For the rock garden enthusiast Stewart writes of Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy in Washington, where Sue Milliken and Kelly Dobson operate a for-profit nursery and a non-profit conservancy, whose “broader purpose of the conservancy is to safeguard species under threat from human activity and climate change.”

I have one quibble about “The Tree Collectors” and that is the lack of an index. Coming from a household with a librarian, it’s not easy to find Dennis Wilson (the wood collector), or Tom Cox’s “Noah’s Ark of Plants” in Canton, Georgia; or even the arborist (Dave Muffly) at Steven Jobs’s Apple Computer campus in California, although admittedly the three are randomly listed in the contents. But without an index you wouldn’t know about the neem tree (Azidirachta indica) or the Baishanzu fir (Abies beshanzuensis).
Overall, “The Tree Collectors” is a worthy addition for your bookshelf. Like coin or stamp collectors, you’ll meet some geeky, obsessed, passionate, but also normal people—some on a lifelong pursuit. “I started to see that the life of a tree collector is filled with adventure and wonder. It is a life well lived,” Stewart writes.
And, yes, the pages of Stewart’s book are made of paper . . . from trees.

Jim Hollister Reviews

From Wasteland to Wonder

by Basil Camu

This is a well written and richly illustrated book. It is the first book I have experienced that is loaded with QR codes that will take the reader to supporting articles or videos. I checked out most of them and found them to be worthwhile. You can tell Basil thinks outside the box and this outside the box thinking makes for a compelling reading/learning experience.

Basil leads the reader through how healthy natural systems work. Soil, water, critters… He then describes some of the ways we have worked to defeat these healthy natural systems, and then on to practical ways each of us can do things around our homes to make our corner of the world a little bit better.

But his vision goes beyond the individual yard to communities. He has created Project Pando. Project Pando works with the community to collect seeds from native trees and shrubs. They then grow these seeds into saplings and then give them away to restoration projects. They support this work with research, education, and events that help further their mission.

Basil really stresses the growth of natives. We all know the argument for natives… basically native bug food. And I am happy to include many natives in my garden, but we all know many “exotics” can also nurture our native critters. Take, for example, Aristolochia fimbriata, the South American pipevine. Our North American Pipevine Swallowtails love to lay their eggs on it and the little caterpillars grow fat as they eat the Aristolochia to the ground, but being a geophyte the pipevine comes back quickly to feed another brood. I’d say we also know the importance of feeding our soil and not trying to cure everything with a chemical cocktail, so I think overall he would generally approve of what we do and consider us as allies in the job of healing the Earth.

I would love to be able to get my neighbors to embrace a more natural approach to maintaining the landscape. This book is offered through the Leaf & Limb website as an ebook for free, or a hardcopy for the very reasonable price of $10.75. I opted for the hard copy and I am glad I did. It is a beautiful book. 

Plant Profile: Trachelospermum asiaticum ‘Ogon Nishiki’

An evergreen vine, leaves gold with dark green edges. The emerging leaves are a bright orange-red. It is tough and totally drought tolerant. Mine has been in a hypertufa trough for 20 years and has not drooped once!! It is deer resistant, takes sun or part shade, and takes a minimum temperature of 10F. It did not mind the cold 11 degrees a couple of winters ago. Being a vine, it does run, but confined in a trough it has not been invasive.
The color is a stand out all year. Truly a tough plant with many good features.

by Amelia Lane

Piedmont Donates

Money raised at plant sales and auctions helps the Piedmont Chapter  support other organizations in the horticulture community.

Thanks to all our donors and members!

2024 donations total $6000, including $2500 each to the JC Raulston Arboretum and Juniper Level Botanic Garden Foundation, and $1000 to the NARGS Traveling Speaker Program.

Refreshment Rota

Bring goodies to share!

September, last names A-C

October D-F, November G-H

January J-L, February M-P

March R-S, April T-Z 

Coming October 10-11, 2025

Piedmont Chapter’s 40th Anniversary Weekend!

Help plan our big celebration! 

Contact: Chapter Chair Sandy Harwood

email listed on Members Only page

SAVE THE DATES

Friday, October 10, 2025

Gala dinner with keynote speaker  Julia Corden 

Open to chapter members and guests only

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Chapter meeting at JCRA with NARGS Traveling Speaker Julia Corden 

Open to chapter members and the public