Sequoia Species, California Redwood, Coast Redwood, Coastal Redwood

I am surprised about the posts of cold hardiness of Sequoia Sempervirens (Coast Redwood). I live in the southern Willamette Valley of Ore...Read Moregon (zone 8b) and I have one of these desirable trees that I planted in my backyard 4 years ago. I have taken great care with this tree, watering it deeply regularly during the growing season and mulching. However, the very top of the tree has suffered freeze-burn every winter when temperatures dropped to 20-25 degrees. When I planted the tree it was about 5 feet high and it now is about 15 feet tall. Except for the very top, the tree looks great. I was told by that this tree is easily stressed in the extremes of our interior climate. Experts have said that Coast Redwoods are adapted to grow and photosynthesize all winter long in their milder native coastal fog climes. In essence, the damage occurs when the ice clings too tightly to actively photosynthesizing tender green needles that are not fully dormant, freeze-burning the active green tissues. I am hoping that the tree "grows out of it" but I am dubious. Any suggestions on how I can nurse it would be appreciated.

I have been growing this from a cutting about 12 inches tall when I got it. It is now 15-20 ft tall and now is showing 2-3 feet of growth...Read More per year. When can I expect it to start flowering and creating seed cones?

We've got a 4 footer that survived it's first northern Utah winter. It rarely gets below 10F in our yard any more. It probably won't fare...Read More too well if we get the sub-zero temps that we used to get a couple decades ago.

When I tell people we are growing this they instantly say "no, you couldn't possibly have a coast redwood. It's a giant sequoia or a dawn redwood." That's not the case though. We have both of those also. This is indeed a sequoia sempervirens, purchased from Welkers Nursery.

If this should die in a future winter I will remove our zip code from the list and update this post. As of now though it's doing great and did not even suffer discoloration from the cold.

These fabulous giant trees are hardier than most information describes them to be. I live in Grants Pass Oregon and work in Medford. Ther...Read Moree are a lot of Coastal Redwoods planted in this area that are 50 to 100 feet tall. They will withstand 105+ degrees in the summer and survive 0 degree cold spells. 10 degree temperatures do not usually cause any damage. These trees can grow up to 8' a year if they have enough water and food. Redwoods propagate readily from suckers or nodes from burls. Young trees will also propagate from cuttings. Young saplings can survive in the shade in a near dormant state almost indefinitely. When something comes down and lets light in they take off. Redwoods will tolerate most soil types except high alkali. They will also tolerate flooding, in fact when buried by floods redwoods will grow a new set of horizontal roots higher up in the new soil. I know of some individuals that easily grew 100 ft tall in 25 years. This is my favorite tree.