Wellingtonia 121

I was pleased yesterday to find that Wisley are not only planting more Wellingtonia - they already have quite a lot of them - they also go in for varieties - a possibility I had not previously thought of.

The rules do not usually allow very young trees, but I thought that this dwarf variety could be an exception. To be found down by the new lake which used to be a vegetable trial ground, a ground from which I once lifted a handful of Brussels sprouts which looked like they were going to go to waste. As noticed at reference 3.

A dwarf variety going by the name of 'Moonie's mini', described at reference 2. Might be the best I am likely to be able to do in our own garden - at least it might be if I could find somewhere from where to buy one. For once, Bing was not helpful.

PS 1: there is a useful article about Wellingtonia at reference 4 - an article which rather damps down the estimate of hundreds of thousands of these trees in the UK I once came across but cannot now trace. This author goes for a few tens of thousands. And I should perhaps not have been surprised that people in the US were not best pleased when an English collector wanted to name the tree for a UK hero - but the name has stuck, at least in the UK.

PS 2: the Veitches of Exeter were important in the Wellingtonia business. Must ask BH what she knows about them. But in the meantime see reference 6.

PS 3: a little later. Getting there on the hundreds of thousands. My own reference 7 does not help. But Bing turns up reference 8 (BBC), from where I go to reference 9 (Royal Society Publishing) and from there to reference 10, from where the snap above is taken. A quango called Forestry England, presumably the rump of the Forestry Commission of old.

PS 4: a little later still: BH has now confirmed that the Veitches did indeed use some fields just to the south of Exminster and that she used to know the family in the very large house adjacent, set above the road, snapped above. No neighbours in those days and just grass from road to house. Complete with a reminder that the Veitches were once big in aruacariae as well as Wellingtonias. I also remember an old wooden board, maybe 2m wide by 1m high, telling passers-by that they were there.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/wellingtonia-120.html.

Reference 2: https://redwoodtrees.co.uk/redwood_database/sequoiadendron-giganteum-moonies-mini.

Reference 3: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2016/01/butterflies-1.html.

Reference 4: https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sequoiadendron/sequoiadendron-giganteum/.

Reference 5: https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/. Looks to be a fine source of information about trees - at least if you know what they are called.

Reference 6: https://www.gardenhistorygirl.co.uk/post/the-veitch-nursery-a-family-dynasty-c-1808-1969.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/jigsaw-20-series-3-report-no3.html. Claim mentioned but not referenced.

Reference 8: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623. 'Giant redwoods: World’s largest trees 'thriving in UK' - Rebecca Morelle, Alison Francis, BBC - 2024'. Turned up by Bing, complete with reference 9.

Reference 9: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230603. 'Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in the UK: carbon storage potential and growth rates - Ross Holland, Guilherme Castro, Cecilia Chavana-Bryant, Ron Levy, Justin Moat, Thomas Robson, Tim Wilkinson, Phil Wilkes, Wanxin Yang and Mathias Disney - 2024'. Which sends me on to reference 10.

Reference 10: https://www.forestryengland.uk/route-for-redwoods.

Group search key: wgc.