This is not my favorite tree, simply because it looks dead in the winter when I would like more of a lively presence. It's very beautiful when it first greens up, kind of a soft look to it, and is also nice in fall when it turns. Grows fairly quickly.

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This is one of my favorite trees in our yard. I planted it spring of 2010 and it was about 6" tall. I got it from Arborday. Last fall I estimated its height as 26 feet!! Its first year had 48" growth, second was about the same, third year had 7' of growth. This tree is an amazing grower. I'm excited every year to see how much it will grow. It definitely needs to be on its own, though. I've seen others in the area where it is planted near other trees, and they don't do so well. It's not a very good competitor. I've had no problems with it so far. It's pretty deep rooted as I have a garden underneath it. I dig in the soil frequently to plant things and I don't usually hit roots bigger than 1/8" or so. In the fall it turns a nice bronze color and the leaves are good compost for the garden soil below. It does drop sticks frequently, but it really hasn't been a problem so far, and even if it is, it's still worth it for this beautiful tree. Ours is sort of close to our house, but I'm not worried because none of the branches will get very large like other trees, so damage to the house is of no worry to me from this one. The only pests that like it are Japanese Beetles in the summer. They only like the freshest of leaves, though.

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A single Dawn Redwood grew in the enclosed back garden of a small wood-frame home in the western portion of NW Oklahoma City. It was one of the first remarkable trees growing in Oklahoma City that I learned about in the late 1960's through first hand exposure.
The others were and are equally remarkable. There was a beautiful, specimen size Lacebark Pine [Pinus bungeana] growing on the NW corner of 19th and Pennsylvania for many, many years… until the homeowner decided it blocked his view. There were, and still are, two magnificent 'Tanyosho' Pines flanking the entrance to the Civic Centre Music Hall. The largest Ginkgo Tree in Oklahoma City grows in the front of a large home at 42nd and north Portland. Bald Cypress, the famous swamp tree with "knees", grow all over town. My personal favorite "exception to the rules" is the Weeping Alaskan Cypress… an elegant weeping conifer native to Alaska that seems to love growing in gardens here. These trees, and the Dawn Redwood, were on a long list of trees that "would not grow well on the southern Great Plains." You must understand there are rules to follow when growing Dawn Redwood… but they are easy to understand… just as they are important to follow.
Grow Dawn Redwood in good soil with a high humus content. It should be well-drained but kept moist. In fact it likes consistently moist, but well drained, soil. It will occasionally tolerate wet soil.

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