The Eden Project in Cornwall is to become home to the tallest living organism on Earth, the Californian Giant Sequoia. These magnificent trees which can be found in Mariposa Grove in California can live up to 4,000 years old, are big enough to drive a car through, with them growing up to 400 feet tall!
The redwoods will grow to create an avenue that will line the main entrance up to the Eden Project with the planting coinciding with Eden’s 15th anniversary which fell last week on the 17th March. The planting also marked the start of National Apprenticeship Week, with the Eden Projects 27 apprentices working with Eden’s expert horticulture team, 40 children from nearby Lanlivery CP School and Eden’s Co-founder Sir Tim Smit planting these monumental saplings.
The first sapling in the ground was a clone of the Fieldbrook Stump, the remains of a famous northern Californian redwood which was felled in 1890 when it was around 3,500 years old. If it had not been cut down, Fieldbrook would likely be today’s world’s tallest tree, it left a stump that measured 35 feet in diameter!
Sir Tim Smit said: “It’s very humbling to be planting these coast redwoods in their early years in the knowledge that they will probably still be here in 4,000 years time. This is about the future of Eden and getting young people to embrace horticulture.”
The saplings that were planted in Cornwall were acquired from the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive based in Michigan who Sir Tim has worked closely with for a few years, he and Milarch started the project to establish Europe’s first redwood forest and a year ago the two men dug and planted the first sapling.
David Milarch said: “Tim, the schoolchildren and the Eden apprentices are planting an eternal forest – a first not just for the UK but for Europe. This is a unique archive, a living library of genetics that can be utilised for our generation and for hundreds of generations into the future to rebuild and replace what we’ve damaged.”
It may take a few years before you see some real growth in these magnificent trees but there is still plenty to see close to The Valleys luxury holiday cottages, not just at the Eden Project but throughout the whole county, from our white sand beached to beautiful countryside.
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Photo by: Alex Hickman/Instagram