2025 Ruth Borun Lecture Series
featuring Amy Stewart

The Southern California Horticultural Society is pleased to welcome New York Times best-selling author Amy Stewart as our guest lecturer for 2025. Her popular non-fiction titles about the natural world include The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants, as well as her latest book, The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession, which will be her featured topic for this program.

While doing research for her new book, Stewart discovered a community of tree collectors, and expected to meet horticultural fanatics driven to plant every species of oak or maple. Instead, what was revealed to her was that the urge to collect trees springs from something deeper and more profound, whether it is a longing for community, a vision for the future, or a path to healing and reconciliation. In The Tree Collectors Stewart brings us 50 vignettes of remarkable people whose lives have been transformed by their obsessive passion for trees.

You are invited to join us for this in-person talk with popular author Amy Stewart as she takes us through her fascinating new book.

Date & Time: Friday, May 9, 2025 | Doors open at 6:30 pm | Lecture at 7:30 pm

Location: In person at the Los Angeles Zoo, Witherbee Auditorium, 5333 Zoo Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Stewart’s books will be available for purchase plus signing before & after the presentation.

Ticketing: FREE for SCHS Members | $15 for Non-Members*

A confirmation will be emailed to the address used when registering.

Registration will close at 5 pm PDT on Sunday, May 4

Zoom/Online Registrants: a Zoom link will be emailed once the registration process has been completed.

Photo credit Scott Brown

About the Ruth Borun Lecture Series

The Ruth Borun Lecture Series, established in 2020, honors the legacy of Ruth Borun, a longtime Southern California Horticultural Society (SCHS) member who cultivated an internationally admired garden and deeply engaged with the world of horticulture.

A passionate plant explorer and garden enthusiast, Ruth traveled widely to visit innovative gardens and spent weekends searching for rare and unusual plants – proteas in Del Mar, orchids in Carpinteria, camellias at Nuccio’s Nurseries, and California natives at the Theodore Payne Foundation. Her love for gardening was passed down from her mother and continues through her daughter Nancy, who now cares for Ruth’s cherished garden.

Ruth’s collaboration with landscape designer Christine Rosmini (an SCHS Horticulturist of the Year) shaped a garden that gained worldwide recognition. It was notably featured in Sunset magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and was one of only three American gardens included in Christopher Lloyd’s book, Other People’s Gardens.

In her memory, the Borun family – through the Anna and Harry Borun Foundation – has generously endowed the SCHS with funds to sponsor this annual lecture series, bringing inspiring and prominent horticultural speakers to SCHS members and other plant enthusiasts.