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.
Subscribe to 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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
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.
-
Music reviews: Bon Iver, Valerie June, and The Waterboys
Feature "Sable, Fable," "Owls, Omens, and Oracles," "Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper"
By The Week US
-
Are bonds worth investing in?
the explainer They can diversify your portfolio and tend to be a safer investment than stocks
By Becca Stanek, The Week US
-
Elon has his 'Legion.' How will Republicans encourage other Americans to have babies?
Today's Big Question The pronatalist movement finds itself in power
By Joel Mathis, The Week US
-
Music reviews: Bon Iver, Valerie June, and The Waterboys
Feature "Sable, Fable," "Owls, Omens, and Oracles," "Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper"
By The Week US
-
Susan Page's 6 favorite books about historical figures who stood up to authority
Feature The USA Today's Washington bureau chief recommends works by Catherine Clinton, Alexei Navalny, and more
By The Week US
-
Book reviews: 'The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip' and 'Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service'
Feature The tech titan behind Nvidia's success and the secret stories of government workers
By The Week US
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
By The Week US
-
Exploring the three great gardens of Japan
The Week Recommends Beautiful gardens are 'the stuff of Japanese landscape legends'
By The Week UK
-
One-pan black chickpeas with baharat and orange recipe
The Week Recommends This one-pan dish offers bold flavours, low effort and minimum clean up
By The Week UK
-
G20: Viola Davis stars in 'ludicrous' but fun action thriller
The Week Recommends The award-winning actress plays the 'swashbuckling American president' in this newly released Prime Video film
By The Week UK
-
6 must-see homes in Boston
Feature Featuring a factory-turned-loft in South Boston and a wraparound roof deck in South End
By The Week US