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.

Comments

It looks like a beautiful place to have a walk!
All the pictures are nice, but that one showing how small we, people, are near the giant trees, is amazing! Thank you!
Country Mouse said…
Thanks for a lovely time in the redwood habitat, great ferns too. Funny you should mention the issue of dead branches - Dusky W. Rat and a friend cleared out all the fallen branches from the redwood grove behind my dad's cottage yesterday, and it looks very much more pleasant now (I hope it comes across in my pictures) and there's much less fuel lying about. It actually is still lying about - on the wood pile in the corral, which is of an impressive size - something we both commented on, when we saw the fire this morning. If we can't get on the fire department's chipper rota soon, we'll be hiring a chipper service.
Brad B said…
I just learned they were called nurse logs and nurse stumps this weekend. I saw huckleberry growing out of many redwood stumps up in sonoma. I had no idea there was a weeping sequoia either. Very strange.
Gail said…
Isn't life grand! What a lovely walk in nature. gail
Town Mouse said…
Tatyana, Those are actually very small redwoods. In contrast to the Giant sequoias, Coast redwoods are small, well, comparatively speaking.
CMouse, yes, I was worried about that brush pile you had when I saw it. Looked like kindling to me...
Susan Morrison said…
I'm a big fan of Strybing myself. Several of my plant ID classes were held there when I was in design school. Always makes me jealous of the milder weather close to the coast - redwoods and their understory plants need too much supplemental water where I am in the East Bay (not that that stops folks from planting them anyway).
Susan Tomlinson said…
OK, I'm not a tree person: what is a nurse stump?

A very pretty stroll down the path. Thanks for taking us a long.