Here are some notable books about native plants, invasive species, trees and related topics that have been recommended by members of Tree Friends.
Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2007. If you read just one book on the importance of native plants, this should probably be it.
Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas: Field Guide by Jil Swearingen and Judith Fulton, 2022. This is a very useful descriptive guide to all of the invasive plants that we are likely to encounter.
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben, 2016. Trees are social beings, the author says, and can be understood as part of a larger living network.
Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast, by Michael Wojtech, 2020. This helpful guidebook explains how to identify trees by their bark alone.
The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, 1989. This book explores plants' response to human care and nurturing, their ability to communicate with people, and more.
Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees, by Beth Norcross and Leah Rampy, 2025. Living in relationship with trees can be a kind of spiritual practice, this book says.
Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard, 2022. Trees are cooperative entities with communal lives not that different from our own, in this account.
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger, 2024. The author of this bestseller investigates the scientific basis for evaluating intelligence in plants.
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, 2017. This award-winning memoir of a Minnesota biologist is a "revelatory treatise on plant life--but it is also a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility, and passion that drive every scientist."
The Overstory by Richard Powers, 2019. This enchanting novel follows the lives of nine characters who try to avert the destruction of old forests. Highly recommended.
Do you have other recommendations? Let us know!