Lightning hit it in 1991 and it is still here and still growing.
Ancient Trees in the gardens of La Granja
Lightning hit the tallest tree in these gardens in 1991 and it is still growing.
La Reina is a giant sequoia, measured at 42.5 metres by the regional register in 2006 and given 46 by Patrimonio Nacional now, which is what a healthy sequoia does with twenty years. Five of the trees we map stand in the royal gardens, and four of them are foreign conifers planted as fashions arrived: the sequoias and a Douglas fir from the Pacific northwest, a cedar of Lebanon that reached western Europe around 1640 and is the one species Philip V's gardeners could in principle have known when they began the layout in the 1720s. The exception is a Spanish fir from 700 kilometres south, a tree that grows wild in three patches of mountain behind Ronda and nowhere else in Europe. The gardens are open to visitors; the palace is a separate ticket and the fountains run only on set days.
All 5 stand in Segovia, which maps 6 remarkable trees in total.
The second-tallest sequoia in these gardens stands over a fountain about Perseus killing a sea monster.
A tree from the Pacific northwest, at 36.5 metres, over a fountain of dragons.
This is the only Spanish tree in the collection, and it comes from 700 kilometres south.
The cedar of Lebanon is the oldest fashion in this garden.
Opening times and visitor information: Patrimonio Nacional.
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