Annual Literature Award Winners & Nominees

2024 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2024 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Maria Sibylla Merian: Changing the nature of art and science

by Bert Van de Roemer, Florence Pieters, Hans Mulder, Kay Etheridge, and Marieke van Delft. W. W. Norton & Company, Lannoo, 2022. 304 p : illustrations (some color).
ISBN 9789401485333

Award of Excellence for Garden and Nature Writing

Soil: The story of a Black mother’s garden

by Camille T. Dungy.Simon & Schuster, 2023. 336 p. 23 cm.
ISBN ‎ 9781982195304

Award of Excellence in History

A curious herbal: Elizabeth Blackwell’s pioneering masterpiece of botanical art

by Elizabeth Blackwell, ed. by Marta McDowell, and Janet Stiles Tyson, essayist. Abbeville Press Publishers, 2023. 576 p.: illustrations (colour).
ISBN 9780789214539.

Award of Excellence for Botanical Art and Illustration

Plants of the Qur’an: History & culture

by Shahina Ghazanfar and Sue Wickison. Kew Publishing, 2023. 208 p.
ISBN 9781842467176.

Award of Excellence for Botany

In the herbarium: The hidden world of collecting and preserving plants

by Maura C. Flannery. Yale University Press, 2023. 325 p.
ISBN ‎9780300247916

Award of Excellence for Literature for Children

My indigo world : a true story of the color blue
by Rosa Chang. minedition, 2023. n.p. (40 p.): color illustrations.
ISBN 9781662650659 .

Press release (PDF)

See also: List of 2024 Nominees

2023 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2023 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Orchid Muse: a history of obsession in fifteen flowers
by Erica M. Hannickel. W. W. Norton & Company, 2022. xiv, 306 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm.

ISBN 9780393867282.

Award of Excellence in Gardening and Gardens

The view from Federal Twist: a new way of thinking about gardens, nature and ourselves
by James Golden. Filbert Press, 2022. 240 pages : illustrations (colour) ; 26 cm.

ISBN 9781999734572.

Award of Excellence for Field Guides

Luschiim’s plants: traditional indigenous foods, materials, and medicines
by Luschiim Arvid Charlie and Nancy J. Turner. Harbour Publishing, 2021. 288 p. xiii, 274 pages : color illustrations ; 23 cm.

ISBN 9781550179453

Award of Excellence for Botanical Art and Illustration

Trees of the West: an artist’s guide

by Molly Hashimoto. Skipstone, 2022. 190 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm.

ISBN 9781680513387.

Award of Excellence in Plants and Environmental Change

When the Sahara Was Green: how our greatest desert came to be
by Martin Williams. Princeton University Press, 2021. 272 pages : illustrations ; maps ; 24 cm.

ISBN 9780691201627.

Award of Excellence for Literature for Young Adults

Humongous Fungus
by Lynne Boddy; Wenjia Tang, illustrator. DK Children, 2021. 64 p. (Underground and All Around) : color illustrations ; 29 cm.
ISBN 9780744033335

Award of Excellence for Literature for Children

What Do You See When You Look At A Tree?
by Emma Carlisle. Templar Publishing in association with RBG Kew, 2022. 1 vol. : color illustrations ; 30 x 25 cm.

ISBN 9781536226669.

Press release (PDF)

See also: List of 2023 Nominees

2022 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2022 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Yungcautnguuq Nunam Qainga Tamarmi = All Land’s Surface is Medicine: Edible and Medicinal Plants of Southwest Alaska
by Ann Fienup-Riordan, Alice Rearden, Marie Meade, and Kevin Jernigan. University of Alaska Press, 2020. xxi, 346 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
ISBN 9781602234222

Award of Excellence in Landscape Design and Architecture

The Northwest Gardens of Lord & Schryver

by Valencia Libby. Oregon State University Press, 2021. xi, 220 p. : illustrations ; 26 cm
ISBN | 9780870711527

Award of Excellence for Natural History and Field Guides

Summer Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History
by Carol Gracie. Princeton University Press, 2020. 229 p. xii, 372 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm
ISBN 0691199345; 9780691199344

Award of Excellence for History

André Michaux in North America: Journals & Letters, 1785-1797

by André Michaux; ed. and annotated by Charlie Williams, Eliane M. Norman and Walter K. Taylor. University of Alabama Press, 2020.
ISBN 9780817392440 (hardcover); 9780817392444 (ebook)

Award of Excellence in Biography

Illuminating Natural History: The Art and Science of Mark Catesby
Henrietta McBurney. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2021. xii, 353 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 29 cm.
ISBN| 9781604697902

Award of Excellence for Botany

Trees of New Guinea
edited by Timothy M. A. Utteridge and Laura V. S. Jennings. Kew Publishing, 2021. 648 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color maps ; 25 cm
ISBN 9781842467503

Award of Excellence for Children & Young Adults

Herbaria: A guide for young people
by Kelly LaFarge. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, 2020. 33 pages : color illustrations ; 30 x 26 cm
ISBN 9781935641216

Press release

See also: List of 2022 Nominees

2021 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2021 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Rare plants: 40 of the rarest and endangered

by Ed Ikin. Welbeck in association with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2020. 264 p. & plates (boxed)
ISBN | 9780233006239

ex aequo with

Entangled life: How fungi make our worlds, change our minds & shape our futures

by Merlin Sheldrake. Random House, 2020. x, 352, [16] p.
ISBN | 9780525510314

Award of Excellence in Biography

The Earth in her hands: 75 extraordinary women
by Jennifer Jewell. Timber Press, 2020. 324 p.
ISBN |9781604699029

Award of Excellence in Botanical Art and Illustration

Botanical art techniques: A comprehensive guide: Watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, vellum, pen and ink, egg tempera, oils, printmaking, and more
by American Society of Botanical Artists, ed. by Carol Woodin and Robin A. Jess. Timber Press, 2020. 416 p.
ISBN| 9781604697902

Award of Excellence in Botany (including floras)

Iwigara: American Indian ethnobotanical traditions and science
by Enrique Salmon. Timber Press, 2020. 248 p.
ISBN| 9781604698800

Award of Excellence in Gardening and Gardens

Spirited Stone: lessons from Kubota’s Garden
by Gemina Garland-Lewis. Chin Music Press, 2019. 229 p.
ISBN| 9781634059756

Award of Excellence in History

The Wardian Case: how a simple box moved plants and changed the world
by Luke Keogh. University of Chicago Press & Kew Publishing, 2020. 265 p. , 16 pl. n.p.
ISBN| 9781842467190

Press release

See also: List of 2021 Nominees

2020 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2020 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Field Guide to the Grasses of Oregon and Washington

by Cindy Talbott Roché, Richard Brainerd, Barbara Wilson, Nick Otting and Robert Korfhage. Oregon State University Press, 2019. 488 p.
ISBN | 9780870719592

Award of Excellence in Botanical Art and Illustration

Rankafu: Orchid Print Album
by Stephen Kirby, Toshikazu Doi and Toru Otsuka. Kew Publishing, 2018. 296 p.
ISBN | 9781842466681

Award of Excellence in Gardening and Gardens

Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest, 3rd. ed.

by Arthur Kruckeberg and Linda Chalker-Scott. University of Washington Press, 2019. 432 p.
ISBN | 9780295744155

Award of Excellence in History

The Sakura Obsession: The Incredible Story of the Plant Hunter Who Saved Japan’s Cherry Blossoms
by Naoko Abe. Alfred A. Knopf, 2019. 416 p.
ISBN | 9780525435389

Award of Excellence in Children and Young Adult Literature

What Linnaeus Saw: A Scientist’s Quest to Name Every Living Thing
by Karen Magnuson Beil. Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W. W. Norton & Company. 256 p.
ISBN | 9781324004684

Award of Excellence in Children and Young Adult Literature

The Night Flower:The Blooming of the Saguaro Cactus
by Lara Hawthorne. Big Picture Press, an imprint of Candlewick Press, 2019. 32 p.
ISBN | 9781536206166

Press release for all 2020 winners 

See also: List of 2020 Nominees

2019 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2019 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Seeking Eden: A Collection of Georgia’s Historic Gardens

by Staci Catron and Mary Ann Eaddy, University of Georgia Press, 2018.
488 p.
ISBN 9780820353005

Award of Excellence in Botanical Art and Illustration

Joseph Banks’ Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook’s First Voyage
by Joseph Banks, with essays by Mel Gooding, David Mabberley, and Joseph Studholme, Thames & Hudson, 2017.
320 p.
ISBN 9780500022870

Award of Excellence in Botany and Floras

Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis

by Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha, ill. by Mary Marguerite Lowther, Indiana Academy of Science, 2017.
xvii, 1371 p.
ISBN 9781883362157

Award of Excellence in Gardening and Gardens

Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History, new ed.
by William Woys Weaver, Voyageur Press, 2018.
480 p.
ISBN 9780760359921

Award of Excellence in History

Gardens of the Roman Empire
ed. by Wilhelmina F. Jashemski, Kathryn Gleason, Kim J. Hartswick, and Amina-Aicha Malek, Cambridge University Press, 2018.
653 p.
ISBN 97805218216122

Award of Excellence in Children and Young Adult Literature

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science
by Joyce Sidman, HMH Books for Young Readers, 2018.
120, [23] p.; color illustrations.
ISBN 9780544717138

Press release for all 2019 winners

See also: List of 2019 Nominees

2018 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2018 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

The Illustrated History of Apples in the United States and Canada
Bussey, Daniel J.; ed. by Kent Whealy. Mount Horeb, WI: JAK KAW Press, 2016.
7 volumes (3,742 pages); 1,400 color illustrations.
ISBN: 9780998004808 ($320.00 US)

Award of Excellence in Plant Identification & Field-Guides

Chinese Medicinal Plants, Herbal Drugs and Substitutes: An Identification Guide
Leon, Christine and Lin Yu-Lin. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2017.

850 p.; 3,000 plates with colour illustrations; 1 map.
ISBN: 9781842463871 (£110)

Award of Excellence in Gardening and Gardens

Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution
Agrawal, Anurag. Princeton University Press, 2011. English language edition, Filbert Press, 2016.

296 p.; 37 color illus.; 35 line illus.
ISBN: 9780691166353 (hardcover) ($29.95 US)

Award of Excellence in Children and Young Adult Literature

Are We Pears Yet?
Paul, Miranda; illustrations by Carin Berger. Roaring Brook Press, 2017.

40 p.; color illustrations.
ISBN: 9781626723511 ($17.99 US)

Press release for all 2018 winners

See also : List of 2018 Nominees

2017 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2017 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

The Bauers – Joseph, Franz & Ferdinand: Masters of Botanical Illustration, An Illustrated Biography
Lack, Hans Walter. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2015.
526 p.; 226 color illustrations.
ISBN: 9783791354897 ($85.00 US)

Award of Excellence in Botanical Art and Illustration

Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile
Gardner, Martin F., Paulina Hechenleitner Vega, and Josefina Hepp Castillo. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, 2015.

202 p.; 81 plates with colour illustrations; b/w distribution map.
ISBN: 9781906129989 (hardcover) (£200)

Award of Excellence in Gardening

Planting Design for Dry Gardens
Filippi, Olivier; translator Caroline Harbouri. Actes Sud, 2011. English language edition, Filbert Press, 2016.

240 p.; color illustrations.
ISBN: 9780993389207 (hardcover) ($55 US)

Award of Excellence in Landscape Design and Architecture

Phyto: Principles and Resources for Site Remediation and Landscape Design
Kennen, Kate and Niall Kirkwood. Routledge, 2015.

346 p.; color illustrations.
ISBN: 9780415814157 (paperback) ($57.95 US)

Press release for all 2017 winners

See also : List of 2017 Nominees

2016 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2016 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

The curious Mister Catesby: A “truly ingenious” naturalist explores new worlds
ed. for the Catesby Commemorative Trust by E. Charles Nelson and David J. Elliott ; foreword by Jane O. Waring. University of Georgia Press, 2015. (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book Ser.)

456 p.; 238 paintings, illus., photos, and maps

ISBN-13: 9780820347264 (hardcover) ($49.99 US)

Award of Excellence in Botany

On the Forests of Tropical Asia
by Peter Ashton. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in association with the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 2014

ix, 670 pages; col. photos, ill. & maps

ISBN 9781842464755 (hardcover) ($180 US)

Award of Excellence in Plant Identification & Field-Guides

California mushrooms: The comprehensive identification guide
by Dennis E. Desjardin, Michael G. Wood & Frederick A. Stevens. Timber Press, 2015

559 pages ; col. photos

ISBN 9781604693539 (hardcover) ($60.00 US)

Award of Excellence in Biography

James Sowerby: The Enlightenment’s natural historian
by Paul Henderson. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2015

336 pages; 150 color plates, 30 halftones

ISBN 9781842465967 (hardcover) ($66.00 US)

2016 Press release for all winners

See also : List of 2016 Nominees

2015 Annual Literature Award Winner

The CBHL 2015 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Flora Illustrata: Great works from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden
ed. by Susan M. Fraser and Vanessa Bezemer Sellers. New York : New York Botanical Garden / New Haven, CT ; London : Yale University, 2014.

xxiii, 296 p.; 279 color and b&w illus.

ISBN-13: 9780300196627 (hardcover) ($50.00 US)

2015 Press release (PDF)
See also : List of 2015 Nominees

2014 Annual Literature Award Winners

The CBHL 2014 Annual Literature Award

for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Flora of Virginia
by Alan S Weakley, J. Christopher Ludwig and John F. Townsend; edited by Bland Crowder, BRIT Press, 2012

1572 pp.; 1400 b/w figs.

ISBN-13: 978188987886 (hardcover) ($89.99 US)

Award of Excellence in Horticulture

Victoria the seductress:  A cultural and natural history of the world’s greatest water lily
Tomasz Anisko, Longwood Gardens, 2013

400 pages; 400 col. images & ill.

ISBN 9781935442226 (hardcover) ($69.99 US)

Award of Excellence in History

Picturing the book of nature: Image, text, and argument in sixteenth-century human anatomy and medical botany
by Sachiko Kusukawa, The University of Chicago Press, 2012

352 pages ; 121 color plates, 16 halftones, 2 tables

ISBN 9780226465296 (hardcover) ($50.00 US)

Award of Excellence in Biography

Andre Le Nôtre in perspective
Edited by Patricia Bouchenot-Dechin and Georges Farhat,  Editions Hazan, 2013

440 pages; 400 col. ill.

ISBN 9780300199390 (hardcover) ($51.50 US)

2014 Press release (PDF)

See also : List of 2014 Nominees

2013 Annual Literature Award  Winners

 General Interest category

Gardens for a beautiful America 1895-1935

by Sam Watters  (Acanthus Press, 2012)

376 pages; 300 illustrations, incl. 250 plates and 3 gatefolds

ISBN 9780926494152 (hardcover) ($79.00 US)

Technical category

Conifers around the world:  Conifers of the temperate zones and adjacent regions.

by Zsolt Debreczy and István Rácz ; edited by Kathy Musial  (DendroPress, 2011)

Two volumes, 1089 pages, more than 3700 color photographs

ISBN 9789632190617 (hardcover) (€ 195.00)

2013 Press Release

See also : List of 2013 Nominees

See also: Past Winners & Nominees