Dawn Redwood - Formal upright

Howdy, thought I'd share a Dawn redwood that started out from nursery stock 4 seasons ago.

This first picture is the year after re-potting from the giant nursery stock barrel and styled.



The 2nd pic is as it is now. 3rd repot since I've had it, twice with this Jiri Svacina pot and this time managed to lower the root mass. The design is starting to fill out and I'm working on the ramification but soon some negative space will need to be created as well as eliminating some structural flaws.



Cheers!

I really love this tree! I've never seen redwoods in person, but as I understand it, they are a coastal species? It makes sense to angle the branches upwards like this, as they wouldn't be weighted down from snow like the things I see around where I live. Very cool tree. I can't wait to see it progress!

Very nice! Kind of a 'Flat-top formal upright' style, like a Bald Cypress, to which it is related. I have some of these, and they need to be repotted yearly, or you could either loose the pot or the tree. They grow roots at a maddening pace.

JPH wrote:I really love this tree! I've never seen redwoods in person, but as I understand it, they are a coastal species? It makes sense to angle the branches upwards like this, as they wouldn't be weighted down from snow like the things I see around where I live. Very cool tree. I can't wait to see it progress!

Thanks for the feedback! I've only seen a few and unfortunately, still too young to get an idea of what an ancient form would look like. Unlike classic redwoods (Pacific coast) these were found in the mountains in China but even when you google them they all have upwards moving branches from the shoulder/trunk so I took inspiration from that.

Dave Leppo wrote:Very nice! Kind of a 'Flat-top formal upright' style, like a Bald Cypress, to which it is related. I have some of these, and they need to be repotted yearly, or you could either loose the pot or the tree. They grow roots at a maddening pace.

Thanks! I think they are very much related. The physiology is very similar as well as the growth habit. I found that they don't even mind having wet feet at all. I waited two years and the roots pushed the tree out a bit. I rekon it may slow down in time but I won't go over 2 years for sure! Funny thing is, when I bought this, the garden center ticket stated that it was a bald cypress and only after styling and a couple seasons later, someone pointed out that it was a Metasequoia not a Baldy, hence the flat top look. I was a bit saddened but at the same time I think I did respect and respond in terms of design, accordingly to what the tree was telling me with it's growth habit so I think Meta's do end up looking a little bit like many old Bald cypress but perhaps a taller tree. We'll see in 300 years I think