Strybing Arboretum: Redwood Path

I had had so much fun visiting the arboretum recently (see this post about the native plant garden), that I returned 2 days later to explore the redwood path.

I was greeted by a nurse stump, which held healthy looking and large Vaccinum ovatum (huckleberry) and Polystichum munitum (Western sword fern).


Impressive from the other side as well. Sequoia sempervirens (Coast redwood) is a beautiful evergreen tree native to the coastal areas and northern regions of California. They are native to the Santa Cruz mountais where Country Mouse lives, but were probably very rare along the bay, where they need supplemental water.

Even healthy trees lose a good percentage of their branches in the fall. This can be beautiful...


... or a bit of trouble when you have to remove the dead branches from the neighbor's trees throughout the rainy season. The branches take a long time to decompose, so leaving them is not a good solution.

But I digress. In the park, the ground cover of redwood sorrel, Asarum caudatum (wild ginger), ferns, and other shade lovers was soothing and beautiful.


People enjoyed the quiet and the dappled shade of the great trees.


A vine maple (Acer circinatum) was turning color. It will be stunning against all the green in a few weeks.


I was truly sorry to leave, but was rewarded with a special treat for getting ready to go back to class: Right along the path was a large Weeping Reswood (Sequoiadendron giganteum Pendulum). I'd had no idea those trees existed, and was just enchanted.



And that's one reason why I love the arboretum so much: There's always a surprise that makes you want to come back the next day.