Magnificent Trees of the New York Botanical Garden

Book excerpt: Magnificent Trees celebrates the 30,000 specimens that adorn the landscape of The New York Botanical Garden, a National Historic Landmark. This new visual tribute features lavish photographs by Larry Lederman accompanied by descriptions by Todd Forrest, Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections at the Garden. Trees evoke wonder in all who observe them. They are at once visions of majesty, and symbols of shelter and peace. The beauty inherent in trees is both perennial and ever-changing; their shapes and colors transform in every change of season, in every sunrise and sunset. The New York Botanical Garden is recognized throughout the world for stewardship and connoisseurship of its vast collections, some in forests, some in groves, and some standing in solitary majesty. An authority on the diverse species present in the garden, Todd Forrest writes vividly about the Garden’s past, detailing the incredible histories of the trees in the collection—from their vital role in Native American life and culture, to their wartime function as neutral territory during the Revolutionary War. Each tree has a story to tell, and just as Forrest gives their collective past words, Lederman captures their grandeur in hundreds of stunning images. He portrays the diversity of this collection with photographs that reveal the trees in a myriad of fascinating perspectives: in landscape views that convey the Garden’s genius loci; portraits illustrating the architecture and profound visual impact of selected trees; remarkable details of flowers, fruit, bark and leaves; and impressionistic images, abstract in character but beautiful in composition.