True to their name, Coast Redwoods grow along the Pacific coast from Southern Oregon to Central California. Now protected in China, the soft wood was once used for cabinet making.ĭawn Redwoods are one of only three redwoods found in the world. It is unisexual, with male and female flowers on the same tree. Its leaves are bright green, turning copper in fall before losing them until the following spring. The Dawn Redwood is a fast growing deciduous tree reaching a height of more than 100-feet with a 25-foot spread. The World Conservation Union has classified it as “critically endangered” due to human encroachment. Unfortunately, in nature, the Dawn Redwood is restricted to only a few small and scattered stands in China. Now, 60-plus years later, the beauteous Dawn Redwood is a popular landscape tree here and abroad. By 1948 this seed was being distributed to botanic gardens and universities across the world, most certainly saving the Dawn Redwood from extinction. Despite a government ban, scientists accompanied by armed guards collected four pounds of seed and sent them to Boston. In 1947 Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum sent another expedition to China to collect seed from these newly discovered redwoods. It was determined that the Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, a tree thought to be extinct for more than 5 million years, was indeed ALIVE! About 1,000 Dawn Redwoods were living in very isolated groves in Southeastern China along with birch, chestnut, sweet gum, beech and oak trees. After the war, Professor Cheng of China’s National Central University sent an expedition to the Szechwan Province in 1946 for a complete study.
Since China was in the midst of war, making study expeditions impossible, these redwoods were pretty much ignored at the time. Then in 1944 a forester with China’s National Central University stumbled upon a small grove of redwoods in the rice paddies of China’s Szechwan Province, not even knowing what they were at the time. The Dawn Redwood was first described in Japan in 1941 by Shigeru Miki, who thought he had a discovered the fossils of a tree long since extinct. The story reads like a Nancy Drew mystery. Were it not for good luck and perseverance, this living fossil may well have been lost to extinction forever. This species is not originally from North America.Not considered a native species to Kentucky, the Dawn Redwood once was a very common tree in our landscape - 50 to 100 million years ago when the dinosaurs roamed.įossil records show that Dawn Redwoods were common across the Northern Hemisphere, including North America, Greenland and Europe. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is quite adaptable, prefering to grow in average to wet conditions, and will even tolerate some standing water.
#DAWN REDWOOD TREE METASEQUOIA GLYPTOSTROBOIDES FULL#
This tree should only be grown in full sunlight. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live to a ripe old age of 100 years or more think of this as a heritage tree for future generations! It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 4 feet from the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. It has no significant negative characteristics.ĭawn Redwood is recommended for the following landscape applications ĭawn Redwood will grow to be about 50 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 25 feet. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone. The peeling antique red bark adds an interesting dimension to the landscape.ĭawn Redwood is an open deciduous tree with a strong central leader and a distinctive and refined pyramidal form. The ferny bipinnately compound leaves turn an outstanding coppery-bronze in the fall.
An ancient and interesting deciduous conifer with a very delicate, ferny appearance, and a very tall, pyramidal habit of growth shaggy, reddish bark is rather appealing, beautiful apricot brown fall color the hardiest of the redwood/sequoia familyĭawn Redwood is primarily valued in the landscape for its distinctively pyramidal habit of growth.
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