THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2008
Growing Redwoods in Atlanta?
Recently my husband has been suffering with a frozen shoulder. As is typical with such maladies, the treatment may be worst than the illness. However, typical of living with me, his interactions in the world providefodder for my columns.This week he came home from physical therapy with a question. Someone at the clinic wanted to know, “Can you grow aRedwood in Atlanta, Georgia?”Of course my first thought, and question was, “Did you mean Redbud?” A Redbud is a lovely understory tree that does very well in Atlanta – both as a tree for wild habitat restoration, and as a street tree.“No”, he responded. “They want to grow a giant Redwood tree, like the ones in California.” Wellthis seemed a pretty unlikely candidate to me. Even if you could grow such a tree here, would you want to? I thought I had better do someresearch before I responded. Here is what I found out.
Where do they grow in the wild?
Unlike many North American trees such as Oak
Quercus L.
and Maple
Acer L.
, of which one species or another grow natively in virtually every state, the two species we think of as Redwoods (both Redwood
Sequoiasempervirens
known as the California coast redwood, and Giant sequoia
Sequoiadendron giganteum
also known as the Sierra redwood) only grow in a very small region of the west coast.
S. sempervirens
is found in a narrow band along the coast of NorthernCalifornia and Southern Oregon, and
S. giganteum
© Photographer:Michael-john WolfeAgency:Dreamstime.com
Does this mean that they can’t grow elsewhere?
Apparently not. According to the website of the American Park Network , which provides information about Sequoia and Kings Canyon nationalparks, fossil remains indicated that these trees grew worldwide prior tothe last ice age. Welker's Grove Nursery in Auberry California is actively growing andshipping saplings all over the country. They recommend the Giant Sequoia especially as a good tree for privacy screensand windbreaks. In containers, they can be maintained at a manageable size, using bonsai techniques of root and branchpruning. However, the climate of North American is substantially different than it was 175 million years ago. To grow these trees successfully outside of their current native habitat will require some effort.
What do these plants need to thrive?
The Redwood forests in northern California thrive on the cool moist fog belt of the region. Giant Sequoia grow in a smallregion on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada range, which is constantly watered by mountain run-off, streams andsprings. Both species require deep well drained soil and plenty of moisture. This means that in the Piedmont region of Georgia where I live, the clayey soil would require substantial amendment.In addition to soil requirements, they are very susceptible to drought and drying from wind. Unlike many plants thatprefer a good soaking followed by a chance to dry out, these require constant moist soil. On the other hand, they can nottolerate standing in water, or mud, so planting on a riverbank is not a good solution. In our region, it seems the only way to ensure adequate moisture will be with irrigation, and probably with its own separate zone and different wateringschedule than you other plants.If growing in a container, you should be aware that these trees can suck up all of the moisture in less than a day, andonce the roots start to wither, you are sunk.TwitThis Add to Technorati Favorites Add me to your Deliciousnetwork The Internet Public Library Stumble It!
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ABOUT ME AND NATIVE PLANTS
Kay Stephenson is a transplant toGeorgia from the St. LawrenceRiver valley of New York. An avidgardener, she served on the boardof theGeorgia Native PlantSociety and advocates for the useof native plants through severalother park and greenspaceorganizations likePiedmont Park Conservancy .Georgia Gardeninghas published several of herarticles. In the interest of fulldisclosure, her own gardens arenot exclusively native, but she is working on it. A freelance writer and fiber artist,Kay lives in Atlanta, Ga with herhusband, Mark, and her dog,Lady.
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