By Karen England, for Let's Talk Plants! February 2024.
Join us on February 5, 2024, at 4:30p/5p on Zoom to discuss the book Brave the Wild River by Melissa L. Sevigny. 2023. The untold story of two women who mapped the botany of the Grand Canyon. Non-fiction.
Want to join the SD Hort Book Club? It is easy. Send an email to info@sdhort.org with "book club" in the subject line and you will get the Zoom link to join.
Upcoming SD Hort Book Club books and discussion dates:
March 4, 2024, 4:30p/5p on Zoom, Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, 2013, fiction.
April 1, 2024, 4:30p/5p on Zoom, The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, 2014, novel.
SD Hort Book Club visit to The Great Oak in Temecula report:
Twelve SD Hort Book Club members from all around our county met on a beautiful day in January in Temecula, CA to take the Pechanga Cultural Resources Department's tour of The Great Oak, one of the oldest living oak trees in the Western U.S. This ancient oak tree is in Riverside County on the Pechanga Indian reservation. These tours happen once a month and are free by reservation only. Pechanga Band of Indians - The Great Oak (pechanga-nsn.gov)
Visiting the Great Oak
The Pechanga Cultural Resources Department periodically offers guided tours of the Great Oak Tree. If you are interested in visiting Wi’áaşal, please contact Cultural Resources at (951) 770-6300 for more information.
Did you know?
👍👍Our book club has read two oak books in the last three years, The Nature of Oaks by Tallamy and The Oak Papers by Canton, both of which we rated with two thumbs up!
In the three years that our group has met, we have learned so much by reading books of fiction, literature, history, nature, travel, biography and more, all having some sort of a horticultural aspect to the story. We've read thirty-one books so far, and who knows we may read more books about oaks someday.
Members can suggest books to read at any time and then every three months there is a vote on what to read each quarter from a list of ten or twelve nominees. Turns out, even if we haven't chosen to read a book yet, members still enjoy reading some of the suggestions anyway.
There is an www.internationaloaksociety.org International Oak Society. Their email newsletter is full of wonderful information. Several of our members have joined.
On our YouTube channel there is a wonderful presentation available on cork oaks titled All About Cork; A Natural & Renewable Product with Pamela Hyatt of Bird Rock Tropicals, Encinitas, CA.
SD HORT BOOK CLUB'S Previously Read List:
January 2021 - The Language of Flowers by V. Diffenbaugh 👍
February 2021 - The Food Explorer by D. Stone 👍👍
March 2021 - Green Mansions by W. H. Hudson👍
April 2021 - A Memory of Violets by H. Gaynor 👍
May 2021 - Founding Gardeners by A. Wulf 👍👍
June 2021 - Elizabeth and Her German Garden by E. von Arnim 👍
July 2021 - In Praise of Tomatoes by S. Shepherd 👍👍
August 2021 - Undaunted Courage by S. Ambrose 👍👍
September 2021 - Around the World in 80 Plants/Trees both by J. Drori 👍👍
October 2021 - American Eden by V. Johnson 👍
November/December 2021 – Finding The Mother Tree by S. Simard 👍👍
January 2022 – Braiding Sweetgrass by R. Kimmerer 👍👍
February/March 2022 - The Seed Keeper by D. Wilson 👍
April 2022 - In Search f Lost Roses by T. Christopher 👍👍
May 2022 - Turn Here Sweet Corn by A. Diffley 👍👍
June/July 2022 - The Arbornaut by M. Lowman 👍👍
August 2022 – Orwell’s Roses by R. Solnit 👍
September 2022 - The Nature of Oaks by D. Tallamy 👍👍
October 2022 - Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid by T. Ecott. 👍
November 2022 - The Complete Writings f Kate Sessions in California Garden – New Edition - San Diego Floral Association. U👍👍
December 2022 - The Multifarious Mr. Banks: From Botany Bay to Kew, The Natural Historian Who Shaped the World by T. Musgrave 👍
January 2023 – the Botanist’s Daughter by K. Nunn. 👍.5
February 2023 – Eating to Extinction by D. Saladino. 👍👍
March 2023 - The Natures of John and William Bartram by T. Slaughter. U👎
June 2023 - The Plant Hunter by C. Quave. U👍👍
July 2023 - The Overstory by R. Powers. 👍.3125...
August 2023 - Tulipomania by M. Dash. 👍.21428...
September 2023 - Garden Spells by S. Addison Allen 👍
October 2023 - Agave Spirits by G. P. Nabhan Ph.D., & D. S. Piñera 👍.5
November 2023 - The Oak Papers by J. Canton U👍👍
December 2023 - The Last Garden in England by J. Kelly. 👍.21428...
Our Ratings System Explained -
👍👍 Two thumbs up = excellent
👍 One thumb up = good
✔️ No thumbs up or down = okay
👎 One thumb down = bad
👎👎 Two thumbs down = awful
U The letter U = unanimous vote
