Dawn Redwood

[TREETX]

Metasequoia -

I am in zone 8 which according to the arborday or whatever website is an ok zone for this tree. I was mainly curious about soil/site considerations.

I say one 3" newly planted here in Austin. We tend to have extremely basic soils (on limestone) and poorly drained soils.

I'll give one a try along with my other bastard collection of non-natives. Eucs, etc. There is a special place in my heart for Taxodium. I grow and plant a lot of T. distichum.

If anybody has had any experience with this tree, I would love to hear opinions.

Nathan

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

They do prety well up here in usda Zone 4 with heavy clay on limestone. The city is trating to use them in some street applications.

I just like saying the name, Metasequoia glyptostroboides

But then I'm a nerd. A 7 foot 260# nerd.

Here is a good Gymnosperm referance site.

http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/earle/cu/me/

 

[M.D. Vaden]

For young trees, I like the larch better. But larch seem to get kind of nasty and gnarly inside as they get old - messy to thin.

Had dawn redwood at home and put it in for customers. Not any more.

Some are tidy and well formed. Some get lanky branches that bend the wrong way.

They are unpredictable more than many trees.

80% of the ones here in Beaverton, Oregon, send out sizeable surface roots.

They drop compound leaves or branchlets in the fall, not just the little deciduous needles.

If you like variety, then give it a shot.

They are not in the Redwood family for nothing - they meet the criteria, but the rate and size alone can justify them being in that group. Especially the flare and spread at the trunk base.

Mario Vaden
Designer / Arborist
M.D. Vaden Trees & Landscapes
Beaverton, Oregon

 

[Jay Banks]

I don't think larch is an option in TX.

Bald Cypress is a beautiful tree here. Had a 20'er spaded into a park site next to the lake. And several others in the flood plain.

Would like more as street trees, I think they look great with the lower branches removed.