50+ years ... still at it.

Bonsai Nut

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Discovering that I had purchased a coast redwood, meant I had to 'read up' on the fine tuning for this species.
Welcome to the site! Here's another fun site that you might enjoy checking out:

Redwoods in the British Isles

(FWIW, that site refers to Sequoiadendron giganteum as 'giant redwood'. Here in the states people call it 'giant sequoia'. If you go to "Sequoia National Park" that's what you'll see)

sequoia.jpg
 
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rockm

Spuds Moyogi
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An inspirational story for me to hear. I am a young woman and I fear I may have just killed my first bonsai.
Part of the learning curve. Anyone who's been at this for a while has a long list of dead trees. Each one can teach you something about why it died. Don't miss the lesson. Try to find out WHY you killed it, overwatering (roots will be scarce), overpruning top growth or roots, kept indoors? etc.
 

Loubonsai

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I killed my first bonsai over 50 years ago. I am now 75, a grandmother, and live near Oxford in the UK. Bonsai are still an obsession although there have been breaks over the years. I feel I may be putting together my 'last' collection so I am being pretty picky. To this end, a few weeks ago I purchased (at what we call a 'bonsai car boot' in which you turn up at a designated field, open the 'trunk' and sell anything you want to dispose of to do with bonsai) a coast redwood. I have had a long fascination with these giants of the forest although not native to the UK. The redwoods are not a numerous species kept as bonsai here but are quite popular and recommended as an easy tree to grow because of their vigour. The 'dawns' are the most numerous as they are fully hardy in our temperate climate (never too hot and never extremely cold) and can stay outside all year, losing their foliage as they are deciduous.
Discovering that I had purchased a coast redwood, meant I had to 'read up' on the fine tuning for this species. My tree is already a bonsai with a base measuring roughly that of the human wrist and stands about 45cm with very well developed and placed primary branches. In the few weeks I have had it with warm days and plenty of water it has thrown out an impressive amount of new growth. Information specific on coast redwood is scarce in the UK so I had a search on my hands. There is limited written advice here on how to treat (and keep alive) coasts. I found help from you in the US via this forum but it is specific to your many climate zones, not here on our relatively small island off the north west coast of Europe. In short (!) over our approaching winter, I Intend to protect it from cold wind via a coldframe and at all costs prevent the pot and roots from all but slight frost. I very much hope I will be able to keep its foliage intact but only time will tell. Wish me luck!!
Hi from California SF bay area. Lol obviously coast redwoods are pretty common here. Redwoods are tough! You can butcher them and new growth keeps coming. They should take mild frosts with no protection. Not sure just how cold it gets where you are or for how long. They love fog. Here there is no rain for about 6 months of the year and they live off the fog. I had read there are redwoods growing in UK. Some as tall as 58 meters. I'm currently working on one I picked up in a nursery. I also have a "mutant" form that only grows a foot high and 5 feet in diameter. Instant bonsai!
Good luck, I think you will find the tree very forgiving.
 

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Srt8madness

Omono
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Welcome to the site! Here's another fun site that you might enjoy checking out:

Redwoods in the British Isles

(FWIW, that site refers to Sequoiadendron giganteum as 'giant redwood'. Here in the states people call it 'giant sequoia'. If you go to "Sequoia National Park" that's what you'll see)

View attachment 455736
I found the second person ;)
 

Newbietoredwood

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Hi from California SF bay area. Lol obviously coast redwoods are pretty common here. Redwoods are tough! You can butcher them and new growth keeps coming. They should take mild frosts with no protection. Not sure just how cold it gets where you are or for how long. They love fog. Here there is no rain for about 6 months of the year and they live off the fog. I had read there are redwoods growing in UK. Some as tall as 58 meters. I'm currently working on one I picked up in a nursery. I also have a "mutant" form that only grows a foot high and 5 feet in diameter. Instant bonsai!
Good luck, I think you will find the tree very forgiving.
Thank you for your help! I am heartened by your confidence in the survivability of coast redwoods even under trying conditions. I'm sure the climate here in the UK will not present an insurmountable challenge and I will be doing my level best to help my redwood thrive and survive the coming winter.
 

Newbietoredwood

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This is the coldframe I have acquired to overwinter my coast redwood. It is sited right next to my bungalow and is made from polycarbonate panels. I have a max/min thermometer in there and have experimented with adding heat in the shape of tealights with a terracotta plant pot inverted over them. (Thank you YouTube!) This will only be used to keep the tree free from frost. The weather is kind here at the moment. Days in the upper teens C and nights down to 5-7C. I tried the 'heater' out on one night which was forecast to go down to freezing and the min temperature in the little house was 3C. I can adjust the number of tealights (8-hour burn) to give more heat when we get night temperatures regularly below 0C. During the day and currently at night, the house doors and roof are open to fresh air and any rain we get. The Coast gets a spray of spring water if there is no rain. My water company provides very hard water and I don't use it to spray trees because it would cause a white buildup of salts on the foliage. Unfortunately I have no way of saving rain water in the amounts needed to give my trees that luxury.
I hope to report on progress when we get some 'real' winter. Hopefully not until Jan '23.
 

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Newbietoredwood

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Mr.Google tells me that the Washington/Seattle area equates most closely to my climate here in the U.K. which helps us talk bonsai with an understanding of climate. 👍
 

AJL

Chumono
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Welcome to the site ! where in UK are you? Sequoia sempervirens-
Coast Redwood was planted mostly as an ornamental by Victorians here on country estates in West Midlands UK and seems to have thrived in our climate so far .... Ive not tried growing it as a bonsai but Im sure with your experience you could keep it going through our winters!
 

Newbietoredwood

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Hi - if you go back to my original post ... I live in Witney which is about 8 miles west of Oxford. You will see, I am only new to redwoods as bonsai. I'm aware that there are quite a lot of redwoods of all three varieties planted in the U.K. There is a giganteum in my local churchyard, probably planted in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. I have been most grateful to this community for their input on coast redwoods in particular as very few seem to be kept as bonsai in the U.K. Lots of metesequoia kept as bonsai but not coast. I am particularly keen not just for my bonsai to survive but I am hopeful that it will keep its foliage. Whereabouts do you live in the U.K?
 

Bonsai Nut

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@AJL and @Newbietoredwood this is off-topic, but if you don't mind, put your location in your user profile so we know where you live (in general). For any user on the site, if you click on their location (in their user profile on the left column of the page), you will open a Google map that shows where in the world they live. England is a big place :) If you can be more specific, people can relate more to you. And for people like me, who live outside a place called "Charlotte", it helps that you know you can click on my location... and still not know where that is :)

As an example, since @Newbietoredwood stated they live in Witney, I put Witney, England, in their user profile. If you click on their location, it opens a map of Witney. Awesome! Maybe I should visit and have dinner at the Red Lion Smokehouse! :) Note you can always erase/change your location as you desire, to make it as specific or vague as you like. I do not track, or in any other way make use of what people put in the user profile for privacy reasons.
 
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Newbietoredwood

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Thanks for that, Admin!! 👍 Could I (politely) point out on my profile info that 'Witney' has no 'h'. Not like the late and much missed Ms.Houston.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Thanks for that, Admin!! 👍 Could I (politely) point out on my profile info that 'Witney' has no 'h'. Not like the late and much missed Ms.Houston.
Corrected!

FWIW - Charlotte, NC, is named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III :)
 

Newbietoredwood

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Also FWIW [and off topic). Witney is world famous for Witney blankets with their satin ribbon edges. No longer made here but much represented on the tourist trails. The industry grew in response to the local sheep farming for the wool and the river Windrush flowing through the town for the water required in the manufacturing process. I was born in Birmingham (UK) and slept under a Witney blanket as a child. Little did I know I would move to the titular town in my later life. 👍
 
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