Avenue of the Giants

[Ianab]

I'm sure they can be grown in a lot of places outside their natural range. But what they found in NZ is they need a pretty precise micro-climate to grow really well. The grove at Rotorua is in just such an area, and they have grown fast and BIG. They were tried in other areas, but they were not as successfull. I know of a few medium size trees locally, but none as impressive as the Rotorua ones. 

The forest research department had hoped the Redwood would be THE tree to replant NZs forests with, but it was too fussy about exact conditions. They decided on Radiata pine and Douglas Fir which will generally grow anywhere in NZ.

Asy, you may have problems because of the heat and low humidity compared to their natural home, but you can probably still grow some once you get them established, even if they never grow in to real GIANTS.

These are some pics we took at the Rotorua grove a couple of years back. Like WDG says these trees are about 100 years old, bet they will look amazing in another 500  ;)





Cheers

Ian

[solodan]

At one time much of the Northern hemisphere was forested by Redwoods. I think they could grow well in some areas outside their now native zones. The Coastals seem to thrive in cool wet climates. This is the reason that they don't grow too far from the coast in California, but they do seem to do just fine when planted in my neck of the woods, where cold wet winters and very dry hot summers are common. The Giant Sequoia seems to do well in much drier soil found here in the mountains and areas of heavy snow in the winter. The natural growing zone for the Giants seems to be the mid transition zone where 300" to 500" of snow is common, but with some good amounts of winter rain also. They don't seem to do real well in areas too high or too cold, or too low and too hot.  However I still think they could both grow in other conditions, they just might not grow as big or as fast. I think the Dawn Redwood has done pretty well as an ornamental, but I'm not really sure about what their optimal growing conditions would be. I don't think there are any Forum members from China to chime in on this. ??? maybe some one else knows.

[Furby]

I have some cones from the redwoods out West, don't recall them having any seeds in them though. :-\