sequoia trees

My question is about redwood trees I know there are 3 different kinds  the
redwood dawn (meteasequoia glyptostroides) I have one of these and it is doing well so far.
there is also the:

Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and
Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)

I have seen different info on these trees (the coast and giant types)
and wondered if they would have a chance in my climate I am 50 west of Chicago zone 5
I winter my trees in an unheated shed

Any advice would be great. My aunt and uncle want to buy a coast or giant and let me care for it so its like a free tree.

Coast Redwoods don't survive around here - I imagine you could make a fake microclimate with fog, temps, etc like coastal California and they would survive.

Giant Sequoias I hear can make it, here are some pictures to prove it! http://www.giant-sequoia.com/gallery/usa/illinois/

I think Dawn Redwoods will be easiest to start off with, and learn techniques on. They are easily found in our area, unlike Giant Sequoias.

Thanks for your insight. My Dawn Redwood grows like a weed. I'll have to give the Giant a try.

I tried growing giants from seeds. I had 55 seeds and had the standard 20%(give or take) germination rate. I could not get any to survive past a couple inches. Indoor or outdoors.
Where are you getting the trees from, are you growing them? Or are they being shipped to you.
I wish I could give you advice more advice but I have read from a couple books that say Giant sequoias tolerances fit in this zones climate. Special care needed for winter though. Coastal are much harder but still very possible.
I live 30 miles west of Chicago (give or take) I'd love to see your results or buy a tree from you if you have spare to sell. Or tips on keeping seedlings alive etc.

C. S. Budzi

I am a member of a group of Redwood enthusiasts from around the globe. There are members growing Redwood trees in such places as Prauge, Czech. Rep.; Stammbach, N. Bavaria, Germany; many northern tier states in the US including, Conn, Pa, Minn, Ind, Il, Oh; Canada, too, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Vancover,BC; down south aways, too, Texas and Alabama, Missouri, many more diverse places these trees are growing well.

Giant sequoias are a poor subject for bonsai as they tend to abort any branches you work on. I've never seen a good one. Dawn and Coast redwood, however, make excellent bonsai.

I'm in a slightly warmer zone (6a) and am growing all 3 species. The dawn redwood is definitely the most hardy and grows very well in this climate. I have seen numerous excellent bonsai specimens...they make good forests. I have 3 coast redwoods. The oldest one I've had for about 6 years, got it as a seedling from Brent Walston. I've been growing it (potted, of course) for trunk size and the base is now over 3". I also have 2 collected specimens. These of course need winter protection - I let them get touched by frost in the fall, then keep them in a room between 35-40 during the winter. So far, so good, though I've heard they can be touchy about styling, i.e. trim at the wrong time and the branch will die and be replaced by new buds on the trunk.

I have 2 giant sequoia. One came other from Forest Farm, can't remember where I got the other one. I've had one in a pot for several years, it grows very slowly. So I picked up the second one and planted it in the ground. It made it through one winter so far and grew much more strongly than the potted specimen this summer. I don't know anything about styling them, but have read that they can be touchy about root work. The best information I've come across (and one of the nicest specimens I've seen) can be seen at http://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/giant-sequoia

Thanks to all for the great info. I think Ill take a pass on trying coast redwoods and stick with my dawn redwood that I have and also I may order a giant or 2 or 3 for a forest planting from a company that specializes in sequoia trees . if anyone else is interested here's the site I found

http://store.sequoiatrees.com/prostores/servlet/StoreFront

RKatzin wrote:I am a member of a group of Redwood enthusiasts from around the globe. There are members growing Redwood trees in such places as Prauge, Czech. Rep.; Stammbach, N. Bavaria, Germany; many northern tier states in the US including, Conn, Pa, Minn, Ind, Il, Oh; Canada, too, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Vancover,BC; down south aways, too, Texas and Alabama, Missouri, many more diverse places these trees are growing well.

You can add Northern Ireland to that list :-) I have a Coast Redwood on the go at the moment, early days but I'm starting to realise that it might actually make a nice tree some day :-)

That's the Jonsteen Co. site, Chuck, one that I highly recommend and also the Yahoo group I mentioned is the JonsteenGroup@yahoo.com. Most folks there are in ground growers, but many express interest in bonsai. Great folks down there, fostering world peace and communication with trees.

Is "Wellingtonia" only a British common name for the Giant Redwood? There are some magnificent specimens growing near me in North London which were planted in the 19th Century.

Here's what Wikipedia says about "Wellingtonia" and the Sequoia name.

Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, or Wellingtonia) is the sole living species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae, together with Sequoia sempervirens (coast redwood) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood). The common use of the name "sequoia" generally refers to Sequoiadendron giganteum which occurs naturally only in groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. It is named after Sequoyah (1767–1843), the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary.