Sequoiadendron giganteum

A tree of myth and magic, the Sequoia is the largest of all flora and represents one of the oldest living individuals on earth. Sacred to ancient and current lovers of the bond between humans and the natural world, the romance and grace of the Giant Sequoia hold the West’s history as living constants in the landscape.

Called by John Muir "the king of all conifers" and "the noblest of a noble race", these trees have been known to be 400 foot tall, 30 foot in diameter and 4000 years old. Flourishing trees now standing in California groves were swaying in the Sierra Nevada winds when Christ walked the earth. More commonly they grow 250 foot tall and 15 to 20 foot in diameter at 1000 years old.

The bright, deep green foliage is scale-like and overlapping in the manner of cedars. The small cones are 2 to 3 inches long, woody and egg shaped.

The bark is reddish-brown, very thick and rough in its outer layer, and thin and tight in its inner layers, with deep vertical breaks, giving the tree a fluted appearance and a large buttressed base.

In the first several hundred years in open territory, branches will reach nearly to the ground.

The sequoia’s wood, practically off the market in present day, is brittle, various in grain, and rose-purple to white in color. Its long life is in some measure owed to its resistance to disease and fungus. It also has no pitch tubes as in most pines, for insects to enter.

Giant Sequoia will grow in much of the US with cool winters and sufficient water. It also makes an excellent bonsai and may be grown indoors for many years with lots of sunlight.