Majestic Wellingtonia

This is just a small sample of the over half mile long avenue of 218 Wellingtonia trees at the end of my road, planted on behalf of the local landowner in 1865. I have blipped these several times before, but this particular shot hopefully gives you more of an idea of the size of these, which can grow up to 95m high and 12m in width.

These giant redwood trees were first bought to the UK in the 1850s and were named in honour of the late Duke of Wellington, with the botanical name Sequoiadendron giganteum. They were popular with landowners of the day who were keen to grow these majestic specimens.

The largest living specimens are found in its native California, where the largest tree is known as ‘General Sherman’. At the last measurement, it stood 84 m (275 ft) high, with a trunk circumference of 31 m (103 ft) at ground level. It is estimated to be around 3,200 years old., which makes the ones here babies!

Chantler63's Shakespeare Challenge for April