Sequoia Trees through out the US?

[UrbanLogger]

Just out of curiousity...

Someone told me that Giant Sequoias and Coast redwoods will grow in Wisconsin(and else where in the country), they just wont grow as big as they would in the Pacific North West, is this true? and if so, how big will they grow?

 

[Full Skip]

I often buy really old, used books. I have a book from about 1920 that contains a plate of the biggest Sequoia in the East at the time. It was somewhere in Pennsylvania, and If I remember right, it was just under 200 ft and estimated to be somewhere around 1800 years. I'd have to pull the book off the shelf for the exact height and age. I tried looking into this further to see if maybe it was still alive, but all I found is mention of one in the state that seccumbed to disease. I don't know if it was the same tree.

The other thing the book showed was huge stands of American Chestnut in the state. Some were big enough to drive a car through. Those are all gone.

 

[jomoco]

It is true of Sequoia Sempivirens

Just out of curiousity...

Someone told me that Giant Sequoias and Coast redwoods will grow in Wisconsin(and else where in the country), they just wont grow as big as they would in the Pacific North West, is this true? and if so, how big will they grow?

Sequoia Sempivirens ( Coastal Redwood ) are quite commonly found growing in many states and elevations, and are very common here in San Diego at very close to sea level. They rarely achieve a height of much more than 100 feet here.

I have never heard of Sequoia Gigantica growing outside of its native habitat in California, but I can't say definitively that it doesn't, just that I have never seen or heard of it doing so.

To my knowlege the Sequoia Sempivirens is the tallest growing tree in the world in its native habitat, where as the Sequoia Gigantica is the most massive tree in the world in its native habitat. Both these trees have an interesting affinity for growing in swaths together and having interlocking root systems that allow them to grow to tremendous heights without being blown over by the wind, together they stand.

I hope this is helpful to you.

jomoco

 

[Doctor Dave]

Sequoia Sempivirens ( Coastal Redwood ) are quite commonly found growing in many states and elevations, and are very common here in San Diego at very close to sea level. They rarely achieve a height of much more than 100 feet here.

I have never heard of Sequoia Gigantica growing outside of its native habitat in California, but I can't say definitively that it doesn't, just that I have never seen or heard of it doing so.

To my knowlege the Sequoia Sempivirens is the tallest growing tree in the world in its native habitat, where as the Sequoia Gigantica is the most massive tree in the world in its native habitat. Both these trees have an interesting affinity for growing in swaths together and having interlocking root systems that allow them to grow to tremendous heights without being blown over by the wind, together they stand.

I hope this is helpful to you.

jomoco

The "Big Tree", or "Giant Sequoia", or just "Sequoia"Sequoia gigantea, grows in the Sierra Mountains in CA, and is the biggest tree by volume; the Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, grows near the coast of N CA and SE OR and is the tallest. Although both can be planted out of their range, the sequoia does best, even in cold or dry climates. The redwood does poorly elsewhere, or won't survive at all. They both do well in Seattle and Portland, OR, and you can see many nice ones there; elsewhere in the country, you are most likely to be finding the sequoia.

 

[Blinky]

I noticed an unusual, redwood-looking tree, about 60' tall, down the street from my house a few weeks ago and have now determined it's a Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). The genus metasequoia is related to genus sequoia but is deciduous. I'm told it was planted from seed imported from China. There is another redwood-like tree near it but I've yet to make an ID on that one.

It's really beautiful.

 

[jomoco]

Dawn Redwood is an unusual and beautiful tree

I noticed an unusual, redwood-looking tree, about 60' tall, down the street from my house a few weeks ago and have now determined it's a Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). The genus metasequoia is related to genus sequoia but is deciduous. I'm told it was planted from seed imported from China. There is another redwood-like tree near it but I've yet to make an ID on that one.

It's really beautiful.

Tragically, many are mistakenly thought to be dead when they go dormant, and are cut down by unknowing home owners or fly by night tree services unfamiliar with the characteristics of this unusual and somewhat rare tree.

jomoco

 

[Doctor Dave]

Tragically, many are mistakenly thought to be dead when they go dormant, and are cut down by unknowing home owners or fly by night tree services unfamiliar with the characteristics of this unusual and somewhat rare tree.

jomoco

Another deciduous conifer that kind of resembles redwood (and dawn Redwood) is bald cypress, Taxodium distichum. Dawn redwood was common in OR---you can find foliage and cones in welded tuff formations---fossils from 65 million years ago.

 

[windthrown]

Coast redwood, dawn redwood and giant sequoia

We have all three of these tree types growing here on our ranch in OR. All of them grew here in central OR in the wild at one time, but no more. I have fossils of all three trees that I or my brother have found digging in Oregon.

The coast redwoods that we have I collected/cloned from some giant trees in groves that I know of in central coastal CA. That was before the SOD tree import restrictions went into effect a few years ago. I have 50 or so cuttings that survived (they were tested and found to be SOD-free 2 years ago). I will plant them this spring in a cool creekside setting where red cedars grow naturally here, and in some boggy areas where some grand firs are dying (too wet for them). My brother lives north or Portland and has 10 or so coast redwoods growing in his driveway. They are about 120 ft tall, even after being topped at about 60 ft. Everyone there thinks they are cedars becasue cedars are far more common than redwoods in Oregon.

We planted 500 or so giant sequoia seedlings here last winter and they are doing really well. Maybe 20% of them died. The rest are about 2 ft tall and doing well. We also have 3 dawn redwoods as landscaping around the house. As the others have said here, they do look like they are dead when they lose their leaves. There is a giant one in Redwood City, CA that came from China back in the 1940s. I got ours from a nursery up in Portland, and I will clone them to make more of them from cuttings.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

There are plenty of nice ones in parts of Medford where the soil has decent depth: and it's about 6 degrees warmer here than Portland, average, in summer.

There a quite a few visible lining Highway 26 on the drive west from Portland to Seaside. After passing Timber Junction, they can be spotted along the roadside.

My instructor in college, said that they were planted as part of the reforestation after the massive Tillamook Burn, pre-1950s I recall.

Apparently, they wanted to see if they might start to naturalize. The trees are probably about 70 feet tall.

And that's Giant Sequoia.

 

[Elmore]

I often buy really old, used books. I have a book from about 1920 that contains a plate of the biggest Sequoia in the East at the time. It was somewhere in Pennsylvania, and If I remember right, it was just under 200 ft and estimated to be somewhere around 1800 years. I'd have to pull the book off the shelf for the exact height and age. I tried looking into this further to see if maybe it was still alive, but all I found is mention of one in the state that seccumbed to disease. I don't know if it was the same tree.

The other thing the book showed was huge stands of American Chestnut in the state. Some were big enough to drive a car through. Those are all gone.

1800 years old and 200 feet?
Who on earth could have transplanted a Redwood of those dimensions out of it's range there in Pennsylvania? And when?

 

[Full Skip]

1800 years old and 200 feet?
Who on earth could have transplanted a Redwood of those dimensions out of it's range there in Pennsylvania? And when?

I have no clue how it go there, but it wasn't transplanted. I'll try to get a scan of the book page. It was a pretty impressive tree.

 

[moss]

There is a Sequoiadendron giganteum in the Arnold Arboretum in Boston Massachusetts. The trunk has good diameter for an east coast tree but the top is broken off. I'll try and shoot a photo this weekend. The Arb has many Dawn Redwood but zero Coast Redwood that I know of.
-moss

 

[OTG BOSTON]

Bostons Public Garden

Boston, Mass. There is a Giant Sequoia in the Public Garden, it's probably 40ft tall, approx 50 years old. Oh and several dawn R.W.'s (my fav. tree!)
There are also a bunch on private property in Brookline, and Newton (upscale 'burbs)

Try www.Giant-Sequoia.com

 

[curdy]

I have a book from about 1920 that contains a plate of the biggest Sequoia in the East at the time. It was somewhere in Pennsylvania, and If I remember right, it was just under 200 ft and estimated to be somewhere around 1800 years. I'd have to pull the book off the shelf for the exact height and age. I tried looking into this further to see if maybe it was still alive, but all I found is mention of one in the state that seccumbed to disease. I don't know if it was the same tree.

Yes, its at Tyler Arboretum in Media, PA...where I grew up actually.

Planted in 1856 by Jacob and Minshall Painter, the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) that stands along Painter Road just south of the Arboretum entrance has become an enduring symbol of Tyler Arboretum. The most famous of the Painter trees, the Tyler sequoia is over 12 feet in circumference and close to 100 feet high — thought by many to be the largest in the eastern United States. While sequoias are known for their massive straight trunks, the uncharacteristic double trunk in the upper portion of Tyler’s sequoia developed after an unknown Christmas tree thief cut off its top in 1895. It has continued to thrive in spite of this injury and is the inspiration for Tyler’s logo, and is a symbol of the creativity, foresight, and reverence for nature that mark the history of the Arboretum.

http://www.tylerarboretum.org/painter_trees.htm

 

[Full Skip]

Yes, its at Tyler Arboretum in Media, PA...where I grew up actually.

Planted in 1856 by Jacob and Minshall Painter, the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) that stands along Painter Road just south of the Arboretum entrance has become an enduring symbol of Tyler Arboretum. The most famous of the Painter trees, the Tyler sequoia is over 12 feet in circumference and close to 100 feet high — thought by many to be the largest in the eastern United States. While sequoias are known for their massive straight trunks, the uncharacteristic double trunk in the upper portion of Tyler’s sequoia developed after an unknown Christmas tree thief cut off its top in 1895. It has continued to thrive in spite of this injury and is the inspiration for Tyler’s logo, and is a symbol of the creativity, foresight, and reverence for nature that mark the history of the Arboretum.

http://www.tylerarboretum.org/painter_trees.htm

That is probably the one and I just have my dates and height screwed up. I seem to remember that the tree looked larger than that though. I really do need to find a minute to scan the picture and caption in the book.

 

[curdy]

I still live near there, my wife and I have been meaning to visit with our kids. I'll see if I can snap a couple of good shots. Yeah, 100 ft high doesn't seem that big when you compare it to the ones on the west coast, but that's still a big tree! Besides, the mass of the Sequoia really sets them apart. The pictures don't really give a good perspective compared to the surrounding trees.

The caption mentions the circumference being over 12 ft...by my calculations that would be around 4 ft in diameter. That sounds kinda small to me.

 

[Canyon Angler]

Hmm, that's interesting because I saw a tree on a real old property around here, and it sure looked like a sequoia (and that's what the owner claimed) but I just assumed they were wrong because I always thought those trees wouldn't grow around here! That's wild!

 

[cswilliamson]

redwoods in NC

At the Raulston arboretum in Raleigh, there are a couple of redwoods, the straight species and one variety. The species looks healthier than the cultivar. Neither are particularly tall, both about 12" dbh.