About Redwoods

The Redwood Family, Taxodiaceae, includes evergreen (and some deciduous) coniferous trees. During the mild, humid climate of the Miocene Period (about 13 million years ago), trees in this family were very abundant, growing in extensive forests throughout the world, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere.

Many species in this family have become extinct, but there remain 15 species growing today in locations from America to China to Tasmania. Among these ancient species, two are by far the most famous, impressive, and widely cultivated: the Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and the Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). While the Coast Redwood and Giant Sequoia have numerous similarities in appearance, they remain fundamentally very different trees, native to significantly different climates and settings. Thus, each of these redwoods requires a significantly different approach in terms of care and growing conditions.

The Coast Redwood
The Coast Redwood enjoys the distinction of being the world's tallest living thing (current record height is around 370 feet). As its name implies, the coast redwood is a coastal species, native to the foggy, temperate regions of the far northern California coastline. This tree should be grown in areas where winter temperatures only occasionally drop below freezing, and never below 0°.

The Giant Sequoia
The Giant Sequoia (also known as Big Tree or Sierra Redwood) is a mountain species, growing at up to 9,000 feet in elevation and is the planet's most massive living thing (with trunk diameters in excess of 36 feet and heights reaching almost 300 feet). It is native only to a very limited range along the western slopes of the Sierra-Nevada mountain range in central California, where winters are cold and snowy and summers are hot and dry. Despite its limited natural range, the Giant Sequoia is a highly adaptable species. It is both cold and heat hardy, and can grow almost anywhere in the United States.