London’s Street Trees: A Field Guide to the Urban Forest: 2020

Three years ago the idea of a whole book about London’s street trees seemed somewhat esoteric – weren’t they all just London Planes? But Paul Wood’s brilliant and acclaimed book has gone on to sell 5,000 copies in three printings, and become a fixture in London’s bookshops and museum and gallery gift shops, while the author is still busy leading his popular ‘street tree walks’ every weekend somewhere in the capital. And its revelations that London’s streets are actually an amazing ‘urban arboretum’ where you can find everything from Magnolias to Olive trees, Persian Silkwoods to Giant Redwoods, have even led local tree groups to plant the rare species featured in it to beautify their own streets. Now, to take account of all the new species planted on the capital’s streets since the first edition – from Persimmons to Pecans – Safe Haven is publishing a new, expanded, fully revised edition, that includes not only more trees but more of its hugely popular tree-walk routes. It should sell even better.