Author Description

This book is a celebration of trees, with beautiful botanical art as its centerpiece, accompanied by an entertaining and informative text. The paintings by Japanese artist Masumi Yamanaka illustrate the oldest and finest trees growing at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, showing the flowers and foliage and sometimes fruit at different stages throughout the year. This book accompanies an exhibition at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew opening in Spring 2015. These unique paintings are accompanied by the artist s commentary on the process of painting each tree and her personal experience with them. Masumi also provides an artist s preface, describing the progress of the paintings from sketch to finished work. Renowned author Martyn Rix provides detailed text to accompany each tree, describing the natural distribution and cultivation history, as well as other points of interest including uses and associated wildlife. Kew s Tony Kirkham provides an introductory chapter describing the history of tree planting at Kew Gardens and the measures taken to keep them healthy, as well as looking at other great arboreta around the world. This book is ideal for all those lovers of trees and botanical art, and celebrates the strong association many of us have with trees and their presence in the landscape."