mountainhigh's Full Review: Coast Redwood Tree Seedling
If you have never seen a majestic redwood tree, you have been missing seeing one of nature's immense, mysterious, powerful and stately wonders of the universe. Mostly seen on the coast of California stands this enormous tree that grows from a seed up to a height of 367', such as the tallest living one growing in Orick, California . The trunks average 8' in width up to 22' at its base. It is the largest living thing on earth.
Where The Redwoods Grow Naturally
California's Northern Coast, provides one of the 3 environments in the world with a combination of its cool, moist climate created by the Pacific Ocean keeping the trees continually damp even during summer droughts and its elevation mostly about 3,000 feet limiting the redwoods range to approximately 470 coastal miles in length and 5-47 miles inland. This area also provides heavy seasonal rains up to 100 inches annually. The tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular. Fog is of major importance in the development of the Coastal Redwood. The trees above the fog layer are shorter and smaller due to the drier, windier, and colder conditions.
The northern boundary of the California Coastal range starts about 15 miles north of the California Oregon border. The largest and tallest populations of redwoods are in the Redwood National and State parks and Humboldt Redwoods State park. The southern boundary of its range is in the Santa Lucia Mountains of the Big Sur area of Monterey County, California.
The other environments is a strip in the Sierra Nevada mountains and a remote valley in China named Dawn Redwood.
Mystery of the Redwood
There are several stopping points in Northern California that not only has created their gift shop in the base of the redwood tree, but also one where you can drive through the base of a redwood tree. When building our home in 2000, we remembered these places and we bought a redwood burl slab that was custom made and shipped up to us to use on our kitchen bar.
I have placed a picture of this marvelous piece on my profile page.
It remains to this day a mystery why the redwoods grow so tall and live regularly for 600 years with some reaching ages of 2000 years. Redwoods are resistant to insects due to the high tannin content of the wood and insects find the tree distasteful or even poisonous to termites and carpenter ants. The redwood tree is very resistant to water rot which is why redwood makes a great decking material and was always the preferred wood to use. The redwood has thick bark and their foliage rests high above the ground provides protection from most fires while their bark acts as a heat shield due to their thickness as much as 12" and its lack of resin makes it more resistant to fire. When a redwood's trunk has become damaged or has fallen down, new sprouts form that start a new tree. The soils on the forest floor contribute to the redwood's growth among the other abundant greenery, mosses, and mushrooms around them.
About the Tree Itself
Coast Redwoods are a evergreen tree that have a conical crown, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. As stated earlier, the bark is very thick up to 12” and is actually quite soft and fibrous with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed thereby getting its name, “redwood” and then weathering makes it darker. The redwood's root system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots. The leaves are a dark green and grow on the upper crown as the tree matures.
Our Experience Growing the Redwoods from Tree Seedlings
Before we started growing redwoods, we were ensured by the experts that the redwoods would grow anywhere if kept maintained, however they will never reach their true natural height and width without the proper natural environment that they thrive in.
Our experience starts on the Western part of Washington state where the weather is known to be rainy, cloudy, and moist we bought our first couple Redwood seedlings also known as Sequoias. We had 5 wooded acres of land filled with shade from Douglas Firs so there was plenty of room for them to grow. Knowing what giants they could become, however not in our lifetime, we planted them far enough from the house and allowed plenty of room for their root systems. We also ensured that they were provided with enough shade to keep cool but allowed some filtered sun to shine in to grow.
We were very surprised to see how fast the rate of growth is for these and they became 6' tall within 5 years of planting from a seedling. Their shapes were somewhat like a Christmas tree with their foliage starting close to the ground. They are part of the Cedar family. They survived heavy winds, ice storms, snow, lots of rain, and foggy dreary days in Western Washington. By the time we moved from the home two years later, they were 8' tall. We wanted to take them with us because we loved them so much but wanted them to survive also so we decided to let them grow and we would buy more at our new home.
In 2000, we moved to 120 acres in the Eastern part of the state where winters are cold and snowy while summers are hot and sunny. We bought 3 seedlings in 2003 and planted them where we could watch them grow not far from our view deck but gave them lots of room for their root systems. They are thriving in their areas and we once again had to leave this home after 9 years and they are 7' tall after growing for 6 years, however we can still watch them grow as the home has not sold.
You can see pictures of the redwoods on my on my profile page of them taken last month.
These redwoods have endured frigid temps dipping below zero and generally standing in at least 15' of snow as we lived on top of a mountain in the rural area of the mountains. In the summer, temps can reach 100 degrees in the mountains but generally last about 2 weeks out of the year with the remainder between the 80-90's.
We are now relocated on about ½ acre of land above the city but in a neighborhood and we have not decided if we will plant any yet. I'm sure we will plant at least 1-2 after we establish our roots.
If you love seeing this majestic giant, I highly recommend the redwood tree. Take a look at the pics on my profile page and see what you think and how they would fit into your landscaping requirements and desires.
Tree seedling varies in height, about 10-16 inches, nice caliper and root system Shipped bareroot but well packed, ship-times may vary, we ship approp...More at Amazon Marketplace
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