Reading @ the Garden Center - 2026 Selections

All meetings are hybrid, with the in-person part at the Albuquerque Garden Center. We begin at 4:00 pm.

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January 5 The Age of Wood, Roland Ennos

In the prologue to the book, the author states: “So it is time to reassess the role of wood.

This book is a new interpretation of our evolution, prehistory, and history, based on our

relationship with this most versatile material.” A respected academic with numerous

publications (many freely available on ResearchGate) and a deep knowledge of the

structural properties of trees (and their wood), Ennos begins about ten million years ago

and ends looking toward the future. Best of all, this is an enjoyable read.

February 2 Tree Story, Valerie Trouet

Rather interestingly, Dr. Trouet works at the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. And, in a case of synchronicity (well, sort of) the former director, Dr. Tom Swetham spoke at Think Trees in 2023. But that’s not the only reason this is a really interesting book. In a different take on trees and wood from our January discussion, Trouet invites us to consider the history of the world through reading tree rings. She opens with a story about identifying a Stradivari violin as authentic (or not) by the tree rings in the violin.

March 2, the mountain knows the mountain, Philip Connors

AND The Burning Season, Caroline Starr Rose

Usually, I try to devote March (and September) to novels. And, of course,

usually we only read one book at a time. This was yet another bit of

synchronicity. Rose’s book is a novel for young adults. It is written

completely in free verse and deals with a young girl who is a fire watcher in a

tower in the Gila Mountains. Conner’s book is not a novel but is loosely

written in a Japanese form known as haibun, in which elements of prose,

often a journal, are interwoven with haiku. Connor is a fire watcher in the Gila Mountains. In fact, I recently learned that Rose read some of Connor’s earlier work when she was researching her novel. Through the lens of these two stories about fire watchers, we will discuss fire and trees.

April 6 Big Lonely Doug, Harley Rustad

This book brings us back to trees as trees, our more usual position in thinking about

trees. A true story, it is how a logger came to identify one tree to be saved from the saw

in an old-growth forest. The story is about the logger, about environmentalists, and about

the commercialism that seems to be a necessary piece of saving some bit of “the

environment.” One would think that one very tall tree standing alone in a clearing is a

sure candidate for being knocked over in the next windstorm. Some tree ring analysis is

involved in thinking about this particular tree and storms. This is a tale of the economic

forces that drive our competing demands for cheap, sturdy lumber and for a bit of nature.

May 5 The Ghosts of Evolution, Connie Barlow

I confess that I was sure I needed to buy this book as soon as I saw the title. Not all

books live up to their title, though, so I was relieved that this one does. I will just

include a cover blurb from Peter White, the then director of the NC Botanical Garden.

“While evolution is slow, extinction is fast; it leaves the world littered with the imprints

of adaptations and long-vanished interactions. [Connie Barlow’s] fundamental point is central to all evolutionary studies: the past is essential to understanding the present. You can’t touch a mastodon, but you can touch a plant whose evolution the mastodon helped shape….”

June 1 potluck and movie: Rosemary and Thyme, episodes 7 and 8

We have been working our way through the episodes of the Rosemary and Thyme

series. In Swords into Ploughshares, “Laura is distressed to hear that Rosemary was

shot dead while working at Engleton Park, but finds a very lively corpse at the home

Rosemary's mother. Bodies, motives, suspects, and clues pile up around an archaeological mystery.” And episode 8 is called Up the Garden Path. “Investigating a disease that is attacking the competing gardens of a small town, Rosemary and Thyme are put in the middle of murder involving revenge and a whole lot of competition.”

July 6 An Orchard Invisible, Jonathan Silvertown

We read Demons in Eden (2005) by Silvertown in 2021, and I’m looking forward to this

offering (2009) from him. From the book cover blurbs: “Seeds-familiar, mysterious,

wonderful, endlessly fascinating, but rarely considered carefully. In this beautifully written

popular exposition, Jonathan Silvertown brings seeds to life, illuminating their diversity,

their amazing properties, their role in nature, evolution, and fate over time, germination, and fate in the life of an individual. To be read by all those interested in nature: they will gain a deeper understanding from the lively words that trace these and many other aspects of these familiar structures.” — Peter H. Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden

August 3 The Seed Detective, Adam Alexander

While Silvertown casts a broad net to look at all manner of seeds and the role of

evolution, Alexander has a much more narrow and practical focus: what’s for dinner?

And, can I grow it? On his website, he writes: “Since I discovered my first heirloom

pepper in Donetsk in the late eighties, I have been on a quest to seek out unusual, rare,

endangered, and, above all, delicious vegetables that I could grow at home. Saving seeds

of these varieties is at the heart of what I do: first and foremost, for the Heritage Seed Library, to share with other growers, to return to the cultures that have lost or are losing them and to encourage the cultivation of local varieties in the UK that can be widely enjoyed by everyone who wants to reconnect with their own food culture and eat local.”

September 14 The Rarest Fruit, Gaëlle Bélem

According to the Linnean Society, “Vanilla is one of the world’s most popular spices, and

the second-most expensive after saffron. This multi-million dollar industry is all down to

Edmond Albius (1829–80), a 12-year-old slave from the Réunion Island. His ingenious

thinking enabled artificial pollination on a mass scale, which in turn enabled the industry

that we know today. However, Edmond was never compensated for his contribution,

dying practically penniless, and to this day is still relatively unknown.” Author Bélem is changing that with her novel about the life of Albius. Although the novel itself does not include references, Bélem is a historian and is considered to have reported what is known of Albius sensitively and according to historical accounts.

October 5 Oranges, John McPhee

This book is somewhat out-of-date but there are three reasons I think it’s a worthwhile

read. First, John McPhee is an excellent writer and his prose is a delight to read. Now in his mid-90s, I don’t know if he is still writing but I think you can read just about anything he has ever written and feel literarily nourished. Second, as I understand it, this particular book is one of the first attempts at investigative reporting for the public. About half the books we read in this book club fall into this category, including The Fruit Hunters. But this book is where it began, and so it is interesting to see how other authors have followed McPhee’s example. And third, the book was originally published in 1966, on the order of sixty years ago. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s just interesting

to see how the world appeared then and what has happened in the intervening years.

November 9 The Fruit Hunters, Adam Leith Gollner

Not all fruit is a relic of the days of the mastodon. From the jacket of this book: “Delicious,

lethal, hallucinogenic and medicinal, fruits have led nations to war, fueled dictatorships

and lured people into new worlds. An expedition through the fascinating world of fruit,

The Fruit Hunters is the engrossing story of some of Earth’s most desired foods. The

book is further described as “a vivid tale of horticultural obsession.”

December 7 potluck and movie: The Fruit Hunters

From Wikipedia: “The Fruit Hunters is a 2012 feature documentary film about exotic fruit

cultivators and preservationists. It is directed by Yung Chang and co-written by Chang

and Mark Slutsky, and inspired by Adam Leith Gollner's 2008 book of the same name. In

addition to documentary sequences, the film also uses CGI animation, models, and performers to stage real and imagined moments in the history of fruit.” It makes a nice pairing with our November selection, the book that inspired the movie. And, I must say, it certainly sensually presents fruit!