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When Amy Stewart discovered a community of tree collectors, she expected to meet horticultural fanatics driven to plant every species of oak or maple. But she also discovered that the urge to collect trees springs from deeper, more profound motives, such as a longing for community, a vision for the future, or a path to healing and reconciliation.
In this slyly humorous, informative, often poignant volume, Stewart brings us fifty captivating stories of people who spend their lives in pursuit of rare and wonderful trees and are transformed in the process. Vivian Keh has forged a connection to her Korean elders through her persimmon orchard. The former poet laureate W. S. Merwin planted a tree almost every day for more than three decades, until he had turned a barren estate into a palm sanctuary. And Dean Nicolle has grown almost every species of eucalypt from seeds he had personally collected from every corner of Australia, finding 102 previously unknown species along the way.
Stewart populates this lively compendium with her own watercolour portraits of these extraordinary people and their trees, side trips to investigate famous tree collections, arboreal glossaries, and even tips for 'unauthorised' forestry. This book is a stunning tribute to a devoted group of nature lovers making their lives – and the world – more beautiful, one tree at a time.
Amy Stewart is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including the new Kopp Sisters series, which began with Girl Waits With Gun. The series is based on the true story of three remarkable sisters who lived in New Jersey a hundred years ago. Amy has also written six nonfiction books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world, including the New York Times bestsellers The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Bugs, Wicked Plants, and Flower Confidential. She lives in Portland with her husband Scott Brown, a rare book dealer. When she isn't writing, she's making art, which you can see on Instagram, or teaching art and writing classes online.
"A beautiful mix of love letters to trees and practical tree facts. Amy Stewart is as curious about people as she is about trees."
– Sophie Cunningham
"I love everything Amy Stewart has ever created, but this book is my favourite yet. I'm giving this book to everyone I know. Because it, like its subject, is a gift."
– Elizabeth Gilbert
"These mesmerising trees, and the inspiring people they've transformed, will alter your perspective and give you hope."
– Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees
"A whirlwind planetary journey into the wondrously entangled lives of people and plants [...] Amy Stewart shows us how we are all related to one another, through trees."
– Katie Holten, author of The Language of Trees
"Blue gum eucalyptus, maples, ginkgoes, mangos, flowering cherries [...] With graceful prose and tender watercolours, Amy Stewart's arboreal global tour explores the fragility and resilience of Earth's great canopy and ushers readers into the hidden groves and lush forests where the world's most dedicated gardeners plant the landscape of the future."
– Lauren Redniss, author of Oak Flat
"Like the brushstrokes in the fine paintings alongside them, Stewart's vignettes add up to something more: a powerful portrait of the human passion for plants and a paean to what the plants give back."
– Thor Hanson, author of The Triumph of Seeds
"A delightfully offbeat book about a group of people as diverse as the specimens they collect, The Tree Collectors will take root in your consciousness and nurture your soul."
– William Alexander, author of Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World
"Reading this feels like sitting down and having the best kind of coffee date with one fascinating person after another."
– Kathryn Aalto, author of Writing Wild
"A warm and brilliant mural of life that tells a larger story about humanity: our desires, our losses, our salvation, and our place on a beautiful living planet during a time of immense challenges."
– Greg King, author of The Ghost Forest
"After spending time in this varied commonwealth, you'll undoubtedly experience an intense desire to recline under the shade of a leafy canopy. But something even more profound is happening here: by creating a space for people to talk about something they love, Stewart made me feel more tender-hearted toward my fellow humans."
– Scientific American
"While we tree collectors need little encouragement, reading this book will make us feel more normal."
– Australian Garden History Society
"An inspirational guide to those who love trees and grow them for a reason."
– HortWeek
