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TT: Re: I'm back!

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-John Foy wrote:

>..here's what my urban forest looks like:
>
>- Two sweetgums
>- One Coastal Redwood
>- One Ponderosa Pine
>- One Mulberry (I know I'll get some mail on that one!)
>- One Japanese Maple
>

Nope, no flack on the mulberry (as long as its not a white mulberry :>).  I
am interested in and curious about the coast redwood.  It is not common for
coast redwood to be planted away from the coastal fog belt, which is a
narrow strip along the coast from S. Oregon to San Francisco.  So, where is
your tree and how is it doing?

Coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, requires high atmospheric moisture.
Once worldwide in distribution, it is now restricted to this narrow fog
belt.  In contrast, its cousins dawn redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides,
and giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron giganteum, do quite well in a variety of
environments.   All three of these are relict species with tiny natural
distributions, but huge ranges in the fossil record.   Baldcypress, Taxodium
distichum, is still widespread and common throughout the river bottoms of
the south.  These are the best-known members of the family Taxodiaceae,
though most taxonomists now regard them as members of the Cupressaceae.
(Make a note in your field guides: no more Taxodiaceae).

While baldcypress is a common ornamental in the South, perhaps now overused,
and dawn redwood is becoming more common, I am not aware of either coast
redwood or giant sequoia being used much as ornamentals (except for coast
redwood in cities in the fog belt).  There are redwoods on the University of
Washington campus. There were two giant sequoias in Highland Park in
Rochester NY (the former Ellwanger and Barry nursery), but they were killed
by lightning in the late 1960s.

So, has anyone on the list seen any giant sequoias, or seen coast redwoods
outside the fog belt?  What is your experience with these wonderful ancient
trees?

Well, gotta go grade Tree Biology reports.  See y'all later.

Cheers,
Tom Kimmerer
Forest Biologist
University of Kentucky
Lexington KY 40546
Ph:    606-257-1824
Fax:    606-323-1031
tkimmer@pop.uky.edu
Visit the TreeWeb at http://quercus.uky.edu







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