Few things are as rejuvenating as a walk through a quiet glade of trees. This seems like a good time to take a break and take a stroll through nature. Before you step out, though, enjoy this collection of our favorite stories about trees—their histories, their relationships, and their protectors.
Where Are the Trees?
September 12, 2024
Why some neighborhoods get all the shade, and how can we make sure that changes.
Trees With a Secret Message
February 27, 2025
The culturally modified trees of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska bring essential stories of the past into the present.
An Untimely Death at Sycamore Gap
September 3, 2025
The outcry over the violent felling of a beloved tree in 2023 affirms the power trees hold in our cultural memory.
He Spoke for the Trees (and Also the Soil)
March 19, 2025
A champion of agroforestry, J. Russell Smith argued for the restoration of forests as key to sustainable agriculture in his seminal work Tree Crops.
Tree of Peace, Spark of War
September 4, 2024
The white pines of New England may have done more than any leaf of tea to kick off the American Revolution.
How to Plant Trees in the City: It’s Complicated
October 14, 2021
Trees in cities have the ability to sequester carbon, provide shade, and mitigate flooding. But no one tree fits all environments.
What Does a Tree See?
October 5, 2021
A hundred-year-old red oak in a Massachusetts forest told a writer and a team of scientists secrets about change over time.
Building Community and Urban Tree Canopy
October 6, 2023
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Black communities and other reformers in New York City recognized the ameliorative social effects of greening urban spaces.
What Happens to a Tree When It Dies?
March 31, 2021
Decomposing trees on the forest floor become “dead wood”—a part of ecosystems that researchers are only beginning to understand.
Plant of the Month: Tree of Life
May 12, 2021
Indigenous people in North America used the conifer as an effective cure for scurvy during cold winters.
Why Learning the Names of Trees Is Good for You
June 3, 2020
Getting to know trees can lead to new ways of looking at the world.
How Longleaf Pines Helped Build the US
May 16, 2019
The dense, resin-saturated, rot-resistant timber of the longleaf pine helped build up US cities. But most of the native stands have already been logged.
Tradition in Turmoil: Sugar Maple and Climate Change
March 28, 2025
With harvests dependent on the spring freeze-thaw cycle, the maple industry is seeking ways to mitigate damage wrought by a changing climate.
Wollemi Pine, Dinosaur Tree
November 10, 2018
The Wollemi Pine is an ancient tree, virtually unchanged since herbivorous dinosaurs last munched on them.
Cerbera odollam: “The Suicide Tree” That Harms and Heals
May 30, 2025
Even before The White Lotus, people feared the poisonous pong-pong tree, Cerbera odollam. But there's another way to look at the plant and its effects.
From Mud to the Sun: The World Tree of the Maya
September 15, 2022
Cosmic trees, found around the globe and throughout history, may represent a primeval fount of creation or a vegetal axis mundi that connects life and death.
Why Some Buddhist Monks Ordain Trees
July 17, 2020
Buddhist monks in Thailand began tying trees with their traditional colored robes in the 1980s, as threats to ecology increased.
