Mature Height: 100 feet
Aspect: afternoon shade to full sun
Hardiness Zone: USDA 4

The Dawn Redwood ( Metasequoia glyptostroboides ) is native to China and is one of the three surviving species of Redwood Trees, the other two (which we also sell) being native to California. All three Redwood species are considered endangered, but the Dawn Redwood was actually originally discovered only in the fossil record. In 1944, just a few surviving trees were found in China and were quickly propagated from. New trees have been planted around the world to hopefully prevent the extinction of this amazing conifer - you should add one to your landscape to help ensure the continuation of the species!

Today, the Dawn Redwood has become very popular for its wide and thick branches, fast growth habit, and amazingly fissured bark. Additionally, the tree is deciduous and drops its needles in the fall, revealing its strong branches and bark covered in small canyons. During the entire growing season, the needles are feather soft unlike most conifer species, which are usually sharp and pointy (hence the naming of conifer leaves as "needles").

In the garden, the Dawn Redwood is a medium to large sized tree (still an impressive size of up to 100 feet tall, but smaller than the other two Redwood species) with a dense canopy. This makes an excellent shade tree because its branches spread wide, unlike most conifers, but will also let light in during the cold winter months. They make a fine addition to Japanese and Asian style gardens.

Dawn Redwoods are also very popular for bonsai plants because of their small foliage, ease of shaping, and large trunk diameter relative to its height. One of the traits that makes the Dawn Redwood unusual compared to other conifers is that you can take a tall single trunk tree and prune it to any height to create a large tapering trunk but with a short height at any age because the Dawn Redwood can grow from the base. Most conifers can only produce new growth where there is already growth, which means that shaping for bonsai must be done from near the beginning. This makes the Dawn Redwood a fantastic species for both experts and beginners because if you mess up it is really easy to start over. Beginner bonsai enthusiasts should start experimenting with conifers using either this species or the Coast Redwood for the easiest and fastest results.