Talking Plants

Remains of the hybrid white oak (the 'three worlds oak') in Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne "What happened to the oak book?" is a question I've been asked a few times while spruking  The Sceptical Botanist . Fair enough too. I become rather obsessed with oaks during the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening to turn that obsession into a book. Well, that book is now in production with a London-based publisher, Reaktion Books. Copy editing is complete and I'm waiting for the first page proofs. As part of their Botanical series, Reaktion Books have already published one book on oaks - Oak  by Peter Young. You may have read or heard about the most recent book in this series, Eucalyptus ,   by Steve Hopper. My book,  The Three Worlds Oak , is a little different. No so much 'an integration of horticultural and botanical writing with a broader account of the cultural and social impact of trees, plants and flowers', as the contributions to this series are described, ...