Garden Matthew Wilson's 5 Favourite Trees

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5. Matthew's All Time Favourite: The Giant Sequoia (Image 5 of 5)

Matthew says: 'The redwood, in particular the giant sequoia, is my favourite tree. When you travel around London, or other big cities, you might see a sequoia, or a cedar of Lebanon in really incongruous places - such as outside blocks of flats built in the 1960s. These were planted around the mid Victorian era when a big house was there, and when they were knocked down to make way for flats, the planners insisted that the trees remained. So they're ghostly reminders of what used to be there. What I love about redwood is their vastness. They are the biggest living organism - apart from fungus - on the face of the planet. Their particular genius is that they've adapted perfectly to adapt to their surroundings. They need forest fires for their seeds to germinate - the fire burns and clears the ground ready for the seeds and fertilises it with ash. A fire of that intensity would burn any other tree, but redwoods have developed a spongy bark (it's so spongy you can punch it without hurting yourself) that acts as a fire retardant. And they can live for up to 7,000 years.'

For More About Matthew & Gardening
Go to our Design By Space: Gardens pages
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