Product Description

Open The Urban Tree Book and discover the joys of forest trekking--right in your city or town. This first-of-a-kind field guide introduces readers to the trees on their block, in neighborhood parks, and throughout the urban landscape. Unlike traditional tree guides with dizzying numbers of woodland species, The Urban Tree Book explores nature in the city, describing some 200 tree types likely to be found on North America's streets and surrounding spaces, including suburban settings.

With telling descriptions and precise botanical detail, this unique guide not only identifies trees but brings them to life through history, lore, anecdotes, up-to-date facts, and hundreds of fascinating characteristics. More than 175 graceful illustrations capture the charm of trees in urban settings and depict leaf, flower, fruit, and bark features for identification and appreciation.

The Urban Tree Book will inform even the most knowledgeable plant person and delight urbanites who simply enjoy strolling beneath the shade of welcoming trees. An engaging excursion into the "urban forest," this complete guide to city trees will both entertain and enlighten nature lovers, urban hikers, gardeners, and everyone curious about their environment. Includes a tree planting-and-care section, tree primer, and exploration guide
Is backed by the expertise of the renowned Morton Arboretum
Incorporates new "urban forestry" perspectives
Covers urban trees across the continent
Lists key organizations and institutions for tree lovers
Selects the best tree sites on the Internet
Updates many guides by 20 years

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #290521 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-16
• Released on: 2000-05-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 433 pages

Amazon.com Review
North America's cities may be crowded and tumultuous places of steel and glass, but there is scarcely one of them that does not have some quiet forested corner, some green place of solace and repose. Arthur Plotnik, the author of the fine writer's handbook The Elements of Editing, celebrates such places in The Urban Tree Book, an information-rich, entertaining guide to the trees you are likely to encounter in places such as Toronto, Washington, Vancouver, and Kansas City. (For residents of cities farther south and west, he includes a section on palm trees.) A late bloomer--he writes that he came to an appreciation of city greenery not as a naturalist, but as a writer given to staring out his window at a cluster of silver maple, ash, and horse chestnut trees--Plotnik has mastered a wide variety of materials. He describes not only the ranges, biology, and life histories of some 50 common urban trees, but also gathers oddments of folklore and nicely appropriate bits of urban history, such as, for instance, the fact that Al Capone favored an ash bat "to keep his goons in line."

As Plotnik observes, at the dawn of the 21st century, 75 percent of all North Americans live in cities. In his pages these urbanites will find a wealth of information to help better acquaint themselves with the natural life that perseveres in their midst. --Gregory McNamee

From Booklist
Urbanites love the trees that shade their streets, muffle traffic noise, and soften the city's hard edges, but most possess scant arboreal knowledge. When Plotnik, a Chicago resident, realized how little he knew about the lives of the trees on his block, he launched a dynamic inquiry into the character of city trees and their strategies for survival. The result is a uniquely entertaining and immensely enlightening guide to 200 species of "tough trees for tough places." Plotnik expresses his sense of wonder about urban trees found all over the U.S. with warmth and wit as he recounts their history and lore and medicinal and spiritual legacies. Going beyond factual description, he evokes each species' distinctive ambience, from the way their leaves filter light to the sound they make in the wind. Plotnik also celebrates landmark trees, assesses the new urban forestry movement, and provides a wealth of useful resources. Vetted by experts at the Morton Arboretum and illustrated with Mary Phelan's superbly graceful drawings, this is a tree book with depth and sparkle. Donna Seaman

Review
"Urban residents ... will want to consider Arthur Plotnik's indispensable URBAN TREE BOOK ..." --Verlyn Klinkenborg -- New York Times Book Review, June 4, 2000

Customer Reviews

The Urban Tree Book
Buy "The Urban Tree Book" by Arthur Plotnik if you want a well reasoned authoritative and beautifully written book on urban trees. The author does pure and poetic justice to many of my favorite city trees, and like many of us, he loves them all, worts and all. As an example, the "Tree of Heaven," Ailanthus altissima, is a tree many an Arborist or Landscaper loves to hate -- for a number of good reasons as the author points-out. He then goes on to tell of the many beauties and uses of this tree that "...Grows In Brooklyn." He finishes always the diplomat as he asks: "Is it a weed? It's your city. You decide." Arthur validates those of us who believe that, here in the West, many urban landscapes would have few city trees of consequence if it weren't for the so-called weed trees. At the same time he acknowledges the drawbacks of plants that encroach upon the native landscape. With humor and grace he tell's of the natural and not so natural histories of his chosen subjects, explaining virtues and vices of our arboreal friends in manner delightfully entertaining as well as edifying. He explains reasons for banning on city tree lists. Nevertheless, ever the arboreal gentleman, Mr. Plotnik treats all with fairness and honesty as he describes their beauties and many other reasons for appreciating them. Among other tough and sometimes-maligned arboreal foreigners, he features a favorite of mine, Paulownia, the Princess/Empress Tree. He speaks of the "Red Menace" and other maples that tear-up sidewalks, and scatter seeds, etc., but he then waxes eloquent on the irreplaceable beauties of all 'his' maples. Arthur is effusive, as are we all, in the presence of the incomparable flowering cherry, admitting to its many shortcomings that include, among many others, a very short life. Of the future of flowering cherries he says: "For all the effort, risk, and poignancy of planting flowering cherries around town, urban landscapers seem happy to do it." His section on "Resources" includes a glossary, a well-selected bibliography, Internet sites and descriptions of organizations and institutions relevant to urban trees. Arthur Plotnik tops it all off with a very helpful section on "Tree Wellness, Notes and Sources." There are trees I would add to this guide, but none that I would take away. You will miss some members of your landscape in this book. This is understandable since some of the missing are members of two very large genuses, oaks and pines. "The Urban Tree Book" is well worth the price.

An Uncommonly Fine Field Guide
Typically, when I browse learned books, be they history, science, art, whatever, if the author's qualifications to teach me about the subject don't measure up, they go back on the shelf. Talented amateurs have their place, but with so many good books out there, I can't afford to risk having my time wasted.

This book is a great exception. By touching only lightly on the dry botanical aspects of the trees, and focussing on their characters, the author shows confidence in the subject while letting his enthusiasm and wit have full rein.

Again, most illustrations drawn by authors' partners usually serve for breaking up the text. Not these. The unison between the illustrations and the textual descriptions is evidence of true collaboration and a rare conjunction of talent.

If you're interested in "those big things with the leaves", and you don't happen to live in a forest, but this book.

Must-read for tree lovers
As a traveller, walker, and jogger, I've spent a lot of time perusing various urban landscapes over the past quarter-century. If only I'd had "The Urban Tree Book" handy all those years! Like many, I've acquired a superficial knowledge of the trees and shrubs I've encountered by perusing guides and fieldbooks, but those aren't books for reading. Arthur Plotnik's book, loaded with fascinating facts, lively personal observations, and helpful illustrations, is the exception. I bought it out of idle curiosity but immediately proceeded to read it straight through. Mr. Plotnik, clearly a tree "amateur" (lover) in the best sense of the word, has brought the writer's art to the tree guide. "The Urban Tree Book" has the feel of a good travel book, written by a friendly and knowledgeable companion eager to share the delights of the journey. It's a book I'll return to frequently and can recommend highly.