Dawn Redwood

This is my favourite tree in our garden! It’s a dawn redwood, first discovered in 1947! There are a few mature specimens around, a couple of nice ones near here. Mine is 30 years old and has grown to a lovely conical shape. They have beautiful ribbed spiral trunks and I wanted to be ably to see that so today I took the plunge and pruned off a few of the lower branches.
I was surprised to find how tough they are, with really dense growth rings. Rob had to come and help me, with his mini chainsaw for some of them. I am pleased with the result, and it will be interesting when the needles grow in the spring.