The Dawn Redwood by the Pond
Schlosspark, southern endthe Schlosspark
Seasons0 of 4
This species was known only from fossils until 1944. A Chinese forester found living dawn redwoods in Hubei, seed went round the world's botanic gardens from 1948, and almost every large specimen in Europe is one of that first generation. This one is about 70 years old, which for a tree on this site makes it among the youngest here and by some distance the fastest. In seventy years it has put on 5.8 metres of girth and 28 metres of height, which is more than the cedar managed in two hundred. The base is the part worth walking to. It flares out into deep vertical folds and buttresses, gnarled in a way that reads as far older than the tree is, and the bark runs in long fibrous strips up a trunk that tapers hard. It is a conifer that drops its needles, so it turns foxy orange in November and stands bare through winter. Come in autumn and it is the brightest thing at the south end of the park.
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Getting there
Southern end of the park, by the pond, Schlosspark, Bad Homburg vor der Hohe, 61348 Hessen, Germany
You can recognise it by a trunk base that flares into deep vertical folds and buttresses, with bark in long fibrous strips, standing at the pond at the southern end of the park. In winter it is the tall bare conifer.
Free. The Schlosspark is a Hessian state park, open to walk through with no gate and no ticket; the palace buildings themselves are ticketed.
Bad Homburg station is roughly 25 minutes from Frankfurt on the S5, and the Schlosspark is about a ten-minute walk from there.
Autumn colour
November, when the needles turn foxy orange before dropping
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.