I have a special friendship with two women that dates back to grammar school. We were all very tall for our 10 years of age, so we called ourselves the “Redwoods”. Our friendship has endured more than 60 years and embodies many of the characteristics of the Redwood.
The Sequoia sempervirens is the only living species of this genus in the cypress family. The redwood can live 2000 years, spreading its root system out 100 feet from the trunk. The trees live in groves of other redwoods where their roots intertwine, enabling them to withstand tremendous winds like a fortress. The redwood can not grow to be the tallest tree in the world alone, only in company and collaboration with its family of friends.
My icon of the Redwood celebrates the nobility of this symbol of endurance and grandeur. The redwood is home to many creatures for whom the redwood is their only habitat, the spotted owl and the red-bellied newt. Redwoods procreate by spreading seeds, but also by sprouting from the ring of decaying bark and cadmium of a former redwood. You find these fairy rings of redwoods in the coastal range of California.
