Alston Lecture at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

I was honored to be invited to make a presentation at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in October of 2022, just a few weeks after Hurricane Ian swept through southwest Florida. This talk starts with some reflections on Ian and cabbage palms, then covers a few basics, describes some intriguing cabbage palm paradoxes, and ends with some observations about cabbage palms in Georgia, including a puzzling question about John Muir and the famous Bonaventure Cemetery.

"I find your work fascinating, and your style of writing relaxing and deeply informative. All Hail the cabbage palm! Highly recommend." • "I'm reading the Palmetto Book. I'm having a grand time with it."•"A copy belongs on y0ur shelf next to The Everglades:River of Grass, Cross Creek, and A Land Remembered."• "THANK YOU for your interest and dedication to provide this comprehensive work on a too-often overlooked and taken-for-granted botanical gem." • "Just started reading your book and love it. Makes me want to go outside and hug a palmetto in our backyard that has the audacity to grow amongst our camellias." • "I really enjoyed this book. It was a funny read written by someone that is totally obsessed with cabbage palms." • "It looks like a nerdy science book but slips in some marvelous anecdotes -- including an unforgettable one about an Elvis movie." "Fun book to read. I keep buying them to give to friends" • "Reading your 'Palmetto' book and loving it. Been in FL 35 yrs & still learning things about cabbage palms"•"I picked up this book at Gary's Nursery in New Bern, NC and haven't been able to put it down"•"This is a John McPhee-esque dive into the mesmerizing facts of something previously disregarded, only more humorous and personal." "By the way, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your book."•"Your book is a delight."•"A true 'drill down' on a ubiquitous native palm - some delightful and amazing stories and worth a read to learn more about the cabbage palm."•"I'm half way through it now and agree it's a terrific read on a fascinating tree."•"As a multi-generational Florida outdoorsman, and a life-long conservation activist, I began reading The Palmetto Book anticipating that I had little to learn, that attitude was dismissed before I could even finish the introduction." • " I'm more than half-way through your book and enjoying it tremendously . . . .I appreciate both your scholarship and your flare for story-telling."•"I read the book over my vacation last week — and enjoyed it. It was fascinating and amusing."• "Wonderful book. Since reading it I no longer look at cabbage palms the same way. Thank you." •"Throughout, Miller's writing is colorful, deft and lucid. He takes the time to get beneath the surface of the life and lore of his subject. The reader is carried along on a raft of interviews, researched facts and first-rate storytelling."•"His writing style and decades of research and personal experience blend beautifully. Highly recommend this book." •"This week, with some moments of leisure, will allow a dive into The Palmetto Book. I'm already amazed by the analysis you've presented."• "btw, I am really enjoying your book." •"I’m really enjoying it! – the story of an inspired personal quest with relevance and interest to all who are curious about the world around us."•" I got the book and am enjoying it immensely." •"On the last chapter now, excellent read. Kudos to @jonocabbagepalm for the fascinating history lesson." •"Can someone tell him how incredibly interesting his book is?! . . . It is bizarrely fascinating." •"Who would have thought a book about trees would be so hard to put down? I have read only a few books where the author engages the readers so up close and personal. . ."•"Jono Miller ties together history, nature, humor and story telling." " Informative, entertaining and intelligently written."• "I never imagined that I would be reading about cabbage palms and find the subject fascinating, but I have." •"It's made me actually not hate botany anymore. . ." •"It is well written and an easily read mix of history and science -- especially botany." •"unsolicited review here: "it's awesome!" already gave my copy to a recent biology alum."•"It's definitely one of the more interesting, and definitely the most amusing, natural history (ish) book I've read." •" . . .highly recommended for not only the light reader but also those intent on a deeper understanding of this iconic plant."• "I wish I had it a year ago, the last time I taught my ethnobotany tutorial." •" Right now I am just skipping around to different sections of the book and am enjoying it immensely."•"Enjoying it & fascinatingly speculating on their unusual lifespan." "Excellent book. Fun reading and educational too."•"My First Year Seminar students in the Fall will definitely be reading it." •"Very entertaining, enlightening, and enjoyable."•" I bought it and LOVED IT! as promised I now notice every palmetto."• "I keep learning more about this fascinating plant --- and loving and hating it more every day."• "Surprisingly entertaining" "I am definitely looking at cabbage palms from a different viewpoint."• "I have learned a good bit about botany." "The combination of scientific facts, folksy commentary, historical dialogue is captivating."

Do you have a cabbage palm observation that might be of interest to others? Post it here, I'll review it for appropriateness and make it available.




		
	
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