In our Cedar meadow, where the giraffes are now, we have four fine specimen conifers. Despite their size I think they were only planted in the nineteenth century.
Sequoiadendron giganteum, better known as The Giant Sequoia or Wellingtonia arrived in Britain no earlier than 1847 and the Cedars possibly replaced some much larger specimens. In the 1880's the winters here were so severe that the ancient trees were killed outright. I think the plants we see today are the successors.
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| only visible with a magnifying glass the tips on these needles are translucent. |
It has taken me sometime to identify the Cedars correctly as they are closely related to the better known Cedar of Lebanon. Thanks to Hugh Johnson's book 'Trees' I finally got out there with a magnifying glass to spot the only sure difference: A tiny translucent tip on the end of the needles which requires very close inspection. Ours have this and therefore are definitely Atlas Cedars (C.atlantica).
We have two fine specimens of Sequoiadendron giganteum, Wellingtonia or Giant Sequoia but, up until now, no specimens of the even taller Sequoia sempervirens or Dawn Redwood. So I started at the bottom and grew this baby (below) from seed. We have two and they are now around 7' tall. Draped in ghostly fleece all last winter they should now be strong enough to go it alone. You can see them near the carpark.
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| Sequoia sempervirens
I'm not alone in wanting to grow these magnificent trees from seed and this site http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/talltales.htm provides some lovely anecdotal stories from around the world.
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