Do you ever feel a little Quirky? You're in good company. Quercus macrocarpa — the Bur Oak, the Mossycup Oak — is one of the most majestic native oaks of central and eastern North America. The genus name Quercus is the classical Latin for oak; the species name macrocarpa comes from the Greek for "large fruit" — a nod to the impressively large acorn this tree produces, wrapped in a fringed mossy cup unlike any other oak in the forest. It grows slowly. Lives long. Bears fruit on its own timeline. And its quirkiness is precisely what makes it magnificent. Gary L Hightshoe spent 47 years teaching students to know trees by their names, their leaves, and their stories — and to recognize that the unconventional ones are usually the most worth knowing. This T-Shirt is for the lovable weirdos, the offbeat thinkers, and the slow-growing originals who turned out to be the most magnificent ones in the grove.
Gary L Hightshoe is the "Tree Whisperer." The grandfather of the prairie. The godfather of Savanna Studio. As Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, Gary taught plant materials, planting design, and landscape resource management for more than 47 years. His students, his colleagues, and his friends gave him those names because they captured what was true: nobody knew the trees, the prairie, the savanna, the Midwest's living landscape the way Gary did, and nobody loved them more.
Gary is the author and illustrator of North American Plantfile and Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Rural and Urban America — books that have shaped the field of landscape architecture for a generation. His most enduring contribution may be Savanna Studio, the only traveling landscape architecture studio of its kind in the world. Over two decades, Gary led more than 1,000 students to the Boundary Waters, Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Banff, and the Badlands — teaching them that you can't develop a relationship with the landscape from behind a desk.
Through his art, Gary brings the natural world he has spent a lifetime studying into spaces where people can carry a piece of it with them every day. Every tree he draws, every barn he sketches, every silo he renders is a small act of preservation — a record of the Midwest as it was, as it is, and as it deserves to be remembered.
"Long after we've come and gone, a tree still stands." — Gary L Hightshoe
About this T-Shirt:
- 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester)
- Fabric weight: 4.2 oz./yd.² (142 g/m²)
- Pre-shrunk fabric for a true-to-size fit
- Side-seamed construction with a clean, modern silhouette
- Shoulder-to-shoulder taping for durability
- Soft, breathable hand — built for everyday wear and washing
- Available in inclusive sizing XS through 5XL on select designs
- Blank product sourced from Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, or the US
- Printed using high-quality Direct-to-Garment (DTG) technology — a digital process that infuses water-based ink directly into the fabric for vivid, accurate color and detail. The print is permanent: it doesn't peel, crack, chip, or fade with washing. Not a screen print, not an iron-on transfer, not a sticker — this is full-color print quality you can feel.
A Kate Shu Collective exclusive, available only at the Monarch Shoppe.
Do you ever feel a little Quirky? You're in good company. Quercus macrocarpa — the Bur Oak, the Mossycup Oak — is one of the most majestic native oaks of central and eastern North America. The genus name Quercus is the classical Latin for oak; the species name macrocarpa comes from the Greek for "large fruit" — a nod to the impressively large acorn this tree produces, wrapped in a fringed mossy cup unlike any other oak in the forest. It grows slowly. Lives long. Bears fruit on its own timeline. And its quirkiness is precisely what makes it magnificent. Gary L Hightshoe spent 47 years teaching students to know trees by their names, their leaves, and their stories — and to recognize that the unconventional ones are usually the most worth knowing. This T-Shirt is for the lovable weirdos, the offbeat thinkers, and the slow-growing originals who turned out to be the most magnificent ones in the grove.
Gary L Hightshoe is the "Tree Whisperer." The grandfather of the prairie. The godfather of Savanna Studio. As Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, Gary taught plant materials, planting design, and landscape resource management for more than 47 years. His students, his colleagues, and his friends gave him those names because they captured what was true: nobody knew the trees, the prairie, the savanna, the Midwest's living landscape the way Gary did, and nobody loved them more.
Gary is the author and illustrator of North American Plantfile and Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Rural and Urban America — books that have shaped the field of landscape architecture for a generation. His most enduring contribution may be Savanna Studio, the only traveling landscape architecture studio of its kind in the world. Over two decades, Gary led more than 1,000 students to the Boundary Waters, Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Banff, and the Badlands — teaching them that you can't develop a relationship with the landscape from behind a desk.
Through his art, Gary brings the natural world he has spent a lifetime studying into spaces where people can carry a piece of it with them every day. Every tree he draws, every barn he sketches, every silo he renders is a small act of preservation — a record of the Midwest as it was, as it is, and as it deserves to be remembered.
"Long after we've come and gone, a tree still stands." — Gary L Hightshoe
About this T-Shirt:
- 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester)
- Fabric weight: 4.2 oz./yd.² (142 g/m²)
- Pre-shrunk fabric for a true-to-size fit
- Side-seamed construction with a clean, modern silhouette
- Shoulder-to-shoulder taping for durability
- Soft, breathable hand — built for everyday wear and washing
- Available in inclusive sizing XS through 5XL on select designs
- Blank product sourced from Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, or the US
- Printed using high-quality Direct-to-Garment (DTG) technology — a digital process that infuses water-based ink directly into the fabric for vivid, accurate color and detail. The print is permanent: it doesn't peel, crack, chip, or fade with washing. Not a screen print, not an iron-on transfer, not a sticker — this is full-color print quality you can feel.
A Kate Shu Collective exclusive, available only at the Monarch Shoppe.
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