Amy Stewart's 6 favorite books for plant enthusiasts
The best-selling author recommends works by Naoko Abe, Ann Patchett, and more

When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team.
Amy Stewart is the best-selling author of "Wicked Plants," "The Drunken Botanist," and several other nonfiction works about the natural world. Her new book is "The Tree Collectors," a tribute to people whose arboreal obsessions have beautified the world.
'The Sakura Obsession' by Naoko Abe (2019)
I was astonished to learn that the great majority of cherry trees in Japan are just one variety, and that many rare varieties that existed in past centuries have been lost. Naoko Abe, a journalist, gained access to a rich archive that told the story of how a passionate English gardener helped save many of them from extinction a century ago. It's a remarkable story of international friendships. Buy it here.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Tom Lake' by Ann Patchett (2023)
This was the best novel I read last year. Everything Patchett writes is luscious and gorgeous, but this book earns extra points from me because its story, about a mother sharing recollections with her adult daughters of a past romance, takes place on a Michigan cherry farm. Buy it here.
'Eliza Scidmore' by Diana P. Parsell (2023)
I'm going to stay with cherry trees for a moment, because this biography tells the story of a groundbreaking 19th-century journalist and world traveler who wrote books on Alaska, Japan, China, and India, then worked tirelessly to bring cherry trees to Washington, D.C. Buy it here.
'Abundant Beauty' by Marianne North (2011)
Would you like more tales of adventurous women? Botanical artist Marianne North, a friend of Charles Darwin's, traveled the world in the second half of the 19th century and made extraordinary paintings of the plants she saw. She kept a journal, and the most thrilling excerpts from her travels are included here. Buy it here.
'Frank N. Meyer: Plant Hunter in Asia' by Isabel Shipley Cunningham (1984)
Speaking of daring adventures: At the beginning of the 20th century, the man who brought us the Meyer lemon traveled all over Asia, to his great peril, in search of new food crops. Buy it here.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
'The Ghost Forest' by Greg King (2023)
King, a former journalist who became a conservation activist, discovered a trove of historical records revealing that early efforts to save California's giant redwoods were really a front for industrialists who wished to raze them. It's a shocking and entirely unexpected story. King, with his generations-long connection to the redwood forests, is the perfect person to tell the tale. Buy it here.
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
-
September 17 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Wednesday’s political cartoons include a diet of outrage, toxic rhetoric, and tank treads on states' rights
-
The 9 restaurants to eat at this very moment
The Week Recommends They’re award-winning. Isn’t that reason enough?
-
The UK’s opioid crisis: why the stats don’t add up
The Explainer A new report has revealed that the UK’s total of opioid-related deaths could be much greater than official figures show
-
A tour of Sri Lanka’s beautiful north
The Week Recommends ‘Less frenetic’ than the south, this region is full of beautiful wildlife, historical sites and resorts
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashion
In the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – a ‘comfort’ watch for fans
The Week Recommends The final film of the franchise gives viewers a chance to say goodbye
-
The Paper: new show, same 'warmth and goofiness'
The Week Recommends This spin-off of the American version of The Office is ‘comfortingly and wearyingly familiar’
-
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons – ‘riotously colourful’ works from an ‘exhilarating’ painter
The Week Recommends The 34-year-old is the first artist to take over Dulwich Picture Gallery’s main space
-
Born With Teeth: ‘mischievously provocative’ play starring Ncuti Gatwa
The Week Recommends ‘Sprightly’ production from Liz Duffy Adams imagines the relationship between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
-
Art review: Lorna Simpson: Source Notes
Feature Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Nov. 2
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is more
Feature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more