Probably most of you do not have a pet redwood tree growing in your garden, even though redwoods are native to the Northern California coast.

But from my desk in St. Helena, I can see my neighbor’s front yard and a cluster of four redwood trees planted in 1978. They are now approximately 100 feet tall and still growing. That’s a rate of three to four feet per year.

My neighbor’s trees are Sequoia sempervirens, the only living species in the Sequoia genus. The genus name comes from the great Cherokee Indian, Sequoya.

These beautiful trees are commonly known as California Redwoods or Coast Redwoods. They are among the tallest trees, reaching well over 300 feet in height and 23 feet in diameter. That’s hardly a tree you would think of for a small garden.

While they will typically live more than 600 years, the oldest Sequoia on record is more than 2,200 years old. Fossil remains of the Sequoia date back as far as the Jurassic period.

Redwood trees are native to the nearly 500-mile-long fog belt along the Pacific Coast Range, from the Santa Lucia Mountains in southern Monterey County to the Klamath Mountains just north of the California-Oregon border. Their inland reach extends only as far as Napa County. They prefer elevations ranging from approximately 100 feet to 2,000 feet above sea level, with the tallest and oldest trees being found in deep valleys. They thrive on the misty fog in these areas, but few are found close to the ocean due to the salt spray and wind.

In addition to their soaring, majestic, conical stature and drooping branches, redwoods can be identified by their thick, soft, reddish-brown fibrous bark that darkens when weathered. The bark resists insects, fungus and fire and can be more than 12 inches thick on older trees.

The dark green, needle-like leaves have a fan-shaped arrangement along short branches grouped in sprays, with several short branches per spray. These sprays remain functional for three to seven years before dropping. Seedlings are produced from seed cones that are one to two inches long. The trees also have smaller pollen cones. Pollination occurs in late winter, and the seeds mature about nine months later. The seeds have two small wings that assist in distributing them when they are released from the cones.  

As redwoods age and the leaves on the lower limbs die, those limbs fall off, leaving a bare trunk as high as 100 feet. The relatively open forest below the light-obstructing foliage can be dark, austere and beautiful.

The reddish-brown wood is strong, evenly fine-grained and highly prized for its beauty, light weight and durability. It is resistant to decay from fungi, termites and other insects, and is also fire resistant due to its lack of resin. Some redwood posts have lasted more than 50 years in the ground. Redwood has also been used extensively for railroad ties and trestles in California. These ties have later been re-used in gardens for steps, borders and fences.  

The largest (although not the tallest) California Redwood tree in Saint Helena, and certainly one of the largest in Napa County, is on Tainter Street, near the corner of Allyn Street. It was lovingly named “Bob” by my cousins, who live on that property.

Bob is approximately seven feet in diameter and would be much taller if his diseased top had not been cut off many years ago. He also recently had to have some roots trimmed because they were beginning to encroach on my cousins’ house. The city takes  good care of him since he is a City Heritage tree.

My wife and I also inherited a redwood tree that had been planted in our front yard approximately seven feet from the corner of the garage back in 1978. Like its friends across the street, it is now about 100 feet tall. We haven’t named it, but it has recently become a problem child in that its roots have decided to try to raise our garage.

If you are planning to have a pet redwood tree, please give it plenty of growing room. Its shallow roots spread laterally and far. You can expect plenty of needles and branches dropping to the ground throughout the year. But aside from that, they make great pets.  

Napa County Master Gardeners are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to noon, at the UC Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Ave., Suite 4, Napa, 253-4221, or toll-free at 877-279-3065, or on the Web at www.mastergardeners.org