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Snarkie
02-04-2015, 12:44 PM
Hi everybody-

I just wanted to take a minute and tell you about my main passion in life, dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). Dawn redwoods were thought to be extinct in North America for around 35 million years, and globally for five million years, until the discovery of around 1,200 trees in a remote section of China in 1941. Several seed-gathering expeditions brought back thousands of seeds which were shared with botanists around the world.

In 1995, I created the Crescent Ridge dawn Redwoods Preserve, which is the only eastern redwood forest in America and the sole wild dawn redwood forest outside of China. To date, there are over 200 dawns growing in a natural setting. This is a forest that has not existed in the Blue Ridge Mountains for 30+ million years.

Please feel free to follow the link in my sig to learn more about these amazing survivors, and the scope of the project.

RogerEvenBove
02-04-2015, 11:25 PM
I love the plant. I planted two about 15 years ago when we inadvertently killed an old oak by enlarging our driveway. The Metasequoia that replaced the oak in our front yard is now a magnificent tree, but my wife hates it because the leaves it drops in the fall get tracked everywhere. I think the leaves are an excellent mulch. The other tree is in a woodlot in the back and was obscured by my hardy kiwis and pines but has recently come into its own. We had a blessed event this spring and the seedling has been moved to the back where I hope to rediscover it in the spring. I want to try a sequoia this spring since a friend claims he has one growing.

Snarkie
02-05-2015, 01:04 PM
Unsure of your location, but by sequoia are you referring to a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) or a coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens? The reason I ask is because there are likes and dislikes to each genus. If you're in a humid location, the giganteum will not survive. It will die from the bottom up. The coast redwood should do fine as long as it doesn't dip below 30 for very long.

If you have any questions on redwoods, shoot me a PM, or email me through the site and I'll be happy to answer them for you.