TO PUT YOUR NAME ON THE WAITING LIST

CLICK THE REGISTER BUTTON

The Northwest Horticultural Society and the University of Washington Botanic Gardens
jointly present an in-person lecture by
Henrik Sjöman
at the Center for Urban Horticulture, NHS Hall. 

Join international author and tree researcher Henrik Sjöman in an engaging exploration of his newly published book, The Essential Tree Selection Guide: For Climate Resilience, Carbon Storage, Species Diversity, and Other Ecosystem Benefits, co-authored with Arit Anderson. Backed by the latest research, you will learn about the multiple hidden benefits of mature trees in our urban environment, why certain trees excel in specific functions and how to select trees for particular conditions. As our climate changes, the importance of choosing trees for their resilience and other criteria becomes essential. This lecture is suitable for professionals, home gardeners, and tree enthusiasts alike!

Trees are among our best allies in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. Although we often think of them in forests, most of our interactions with trees take place in urban environments and in private gardens, where they provide us with shade, heat control, flood avoidance, noise and pollution reduction, beauty, and much more. However, to maintain and increase those manifold benefits we urgently need to rethink tree selection for our parks and gardens to include those species and provenances most suitable for the environmental conditions and stresses posed by a rapidly changing and unpredictable climate, spreading pests, and emerging plant diseases. To create resilience to present and future challenges, where the exact consequences of future scenarios cannot be predicted in advance, a commonly proposed solution is to cultivate a large diversity of trees, i.e., increase tree diversity at many taxonomic levels. Achieving an increased diversity of trees to improve the resilience for future conditions is likely to involve greater use of non-traditional species and unique genetic types of trees. In this presentation, an insight into a unique research profile is presented with focus on how to find and evaluate the trees of tomorrow, based on travels all over the world. We’ll see a study on the similarities of natural and urban environments and further evaluation of trees for urban challenges in order to create firsthand guidance in finding the right tree for the right place and, just as important, the right function.

DOORS OPEN at 6:30PM – LECTURE: 7:00PM
Book signing following the lecture

The Essential Tree Selection Guide is available for purchase with your ticket at 20% off MSRP ($60). When checking out, choose whether you would like to purchase a copy and it will be available at check-in. Books will not be for sale at the lecture. 

Speaker Bio: Henrik Sjöman is Scientific Curator at Gothenburg Botanical Garden, a Senior Researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and an Honorary Research Associate at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He specializes in how trees deliver ecosystem services in urban landscapes and the practical applications of this in terms of diversifying the urban treescape. Henrik communicates his research through numerous publications and by lecturing to urban planners, landscape architects, garden designers and tree nurseries throughout the world

[Photos by Sarah Cuttle]

Your contributions will support our educational programs, as well as our community outreach grants and scholarships.

This event is generously co-sponsored by the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, the Arboretum Foundation, and Bartlett Tree Experts