Viewing comments posted by Henhouse

This was a mistaken name that some nurseries adopted. True name is Sequoia s. 'Loma Prieta Spike. Retired nurseryman Paul Korth (now deceased), told me that the tree was found near the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in Nisene Marks park, between Aptos and Soquel, California. Mt. Loma Prieta is about 10 miles away from the epicenter, with several ridges and valleys in between. He named it after the spike in the richter scale for that earthquake, not the location.

Introduced by Los Gatos, California nurseryman, Ed Carmen. His nursery was a mecca for rare and unusual plants, and he was responsible for introducing many new plants into the trade. The nursery was located on Mozart Lane; hence, the name.

There is a house with a planting of 5 or 6 of these trees a few miles from me near Santa Cruz. One day I was driving by, and the homeowner was out in his garden and I stopped to ask about the trees. He introduced himself as a retired nurseryman named Allan Korth, and said that he'd originally seen the tree growing in a garden in San Jose. He asked that homeowner where he got the tree, and was told that it was found near the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Mr. Korth grew some cuttings from that tree which were later shared with Saratoga Horticultural Foundation, who in turn distributed plants to other wholesale nurseries. He said that he named it for the spike in the Richter scale. It's often found as just 'Loma Prieta'.

I was told that only upright tip growth cuttings produce an upright weeping tree. Cuttings from the weeping branches basically produce a ground cover.