Metasequoia

The Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) across the street from us has turned from green to orange and will soon lose its small needlelike leaves that resemble a hemlock. Yep, it’s a deciduous tree, even though it looks as though it would be an evergreen.

When we moved here to Pennsylvania ten years ago, I had never seen one of these trees. As a matter of fact, when I was ten years old, no-one in the world had seen one! Thought to be extinct, one of these trees was discovered in China in the mid ‘40s, and an expedition was sent from the Arnold Arboretum to China to collect seeds. The seeds arrived Feb. 5, 1948 … and the rest is history. Paleobotanic records indicate that the tree had been widely distributed (in pre-mesozoic times) throughout the North Temperate Zone, and so it is finding its way – again – into the world. Who knows what happened to wipe it out before.

They grow very fast. One of them grew from seed to 50 ft. in 15 years, so you need a fairly big area to grow one. They like moist soil, and the seed may be sown as soon as it is ripe … or stored in airtight, dry, cool containers for up to a year and then sown. Evidently, softwood and hardwood cuttings root easily, as well.