A Reunion of Trees: The Discovery of Exotic Plants and Their Introduction into North American and European Landscapes [Paperback]

Stephen A. Spongberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 1998

This work provides a "travel story" of trees and shrubs, recounting the journeys and work of explorers who were responsible for introducing exotic plants into the landscapes of North America and Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The peregrinations of the nurserymen, explorers, and philanthropists responsible for these exquisite florilegiums, not to mention the garden plants we now take for granted, have been superbly documented in A Reunion of Trees. (Linda Yang New York Times Book Review )

Spongberg has written a grand adventure story about the migration of woody plants around the world...This tale of the traveling trees is a treasure for both specialist and amateur. (Ruth Johnstone Wales Christian Science Monitor )

Charming [and] handsomely illustrated...attractive...well-researched, and written with warmth and verve. (Ray Murphy Boston Globe )

Spongberg gives us a lively account of trees and shrubs and the colorful characters who escorted them from distant, frequently dangerous, places to the gardens of Europe and North America...[This] book brings a panoramic perspective to these explorations in one copiously illustrated and authoritative volume. (Christopher Reed Horticulture )

About the Author

Stephen A. Spongberg is Horticultural Taxonomist at the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University.

Sam B. Warner, Jr. is Visiting Professor of Urban History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (July 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674766946
• ISBN-13: 978-0674766945
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,945,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A genuine treat for tree lovers, May 6, 2000

By 

P. van Rijckevorsel (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Reunion of Trees: The Discovery of Exotic Plants and Their Introduction into North American and European Landscapes (Paperback)

The title pretty much sums up the contents. Essentially a book to commemorate the ca 100 year existence of the Arnold Arboretum, this book contains a wealth of historical material. My personal favorite is the story on the "One Millon Dollar Tree".

What the title does not describe is the illustrations. There are a few color photographs, but also some exquisite colored-in line drawings and a lot of historical black&white material in a variety of techniques. Obviously someone resisted the pressure to conform to a preset style and chose those pictures which best fitted the subject, regardless of current fashion.

Should be a favourite for tree-lovers everywhere!

P.S. The edition I have is the 1990 original, and I don't know the 1995 reprint.