When this field guide was published in 2017, I attended an authors event at a small bookshop in Mt. Airy, the one next to the Weaver’s Way Food Co-op. I purchased the book that day at the event and flipped through it while waiting for the authors to begin their presentation.

I was immediately impressed. There was an essay about Philly’s botanical history by David Hewitt, a local tree writer whose work I was already familiar with. The front section of the book had tree maps of popular parks, gardens, and cemeteries. The heart of the book was the identification guide and right away I could tell it was well organized, ordered around a simple key of leaf characteristics, full of helpful information, and with a good range of both native and ornamental species. All of the photos looked like they were taken at street level, something I truly respected. It meant that the authors were like me, just going around town looking for good trees. No fancy equipment, no special treatment, no drones.

At the end of their presentation, they played a slideshow on a projector screen, a trivia game with questions about Philly trees. Like, what historical site contains Philly’s oldest trees? Or, under which kind of tree did William Penn make his treaty with the Indians?

Nobody else in the audience knew their Philly trees so I became a unexpected part of the presentation. By the end of the trivia game, everybody was rooting for me to know the answers.

The final question was: where is Philly’s biggest oak?

All heads turned to me. I said I wasn’t sure but I hoped it was that amazing willow oak at Hunting Park.

The authors were astonished. That was their guess too. They pressed the button to advance to the next Powerpoint slide and there was the willow oak I mentioned.

Only this time I was astonished. There in the corner of their photo was the small farmers market that I’d helped establish, the Hunting Park Farmers Market. They must’ve visited that tree on a Saturday morning. I was the one on the farmers market team who insisted that the market was set up under that enormous tree. I knew that was the place for it the moment I saw that willow oak. I couldn’t believe that our little farmers market had made it into their great book.

I walked away from the event certain that the book was going to be a hit, and a resource for Phillygoers for years to come. Driving back home, I felt a profound sense of pride knowing that evidence of my own good work, and a photo of Amos Stoltzfus’s truck and trailer and pop-up tents, would hitch a ride on this book’s path to success.

ADDENDUM: Oh man. I was at the Morris Arboretum this morning, stopped by their gift shop, saw this field guide on display but noticed that it’s been updated since the version I purchased. I flipped right to the willow oak page. They replaced the farmers market photo! I understand why — the Hunting Park willow oak was blowed down in March 2018 — but that was a real kick in the groin. I’m glad I have the original version.

Feb. 2024