Plant of the week: Giant sequoia tree

The Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)

I'm writing about these absolutely massive, badass, hunks of tree because I spent a bit of time staring at a mini version in someone's garden on Tuesday and fell in love with their rusty bark, chubby trunks and lumpy feet.

They are only native to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, which is also the location of  The Sequoia National Park where the largest Giant Sequoia - and also one of the oldest trees in the world - can be found; General Sherman. The General is around 2,300 years old, almost 85m tall and weighs approx 1225 tonnes. 

Less famous Giant seqouias will be 50-80m tall but they're all incredibly tough; their bark is fire resistant (in fact, fire handily takes out weaker specimens and opens sequoia cones), it laughs condescendingly at wood-boring beetles and has inbuilt tannic acid-based protection against fungal rot. Even lightning very rarely kills them. They spend about half the year covered in snow and - instead of delicately recovering from being frozen - grow furiously as soon as it melts, with more growth happening in very old age than when they're young whippersnappers. Practise of felling stopped when it was discovered a lot more money could be made from tourism than trying to flog their often shattered carcasses.

Despite being overwhelmingly humongous and incredibly tough; they seem to be beautiful, endearing, trustworthy, comforting trees. Though I've only met a mini version and looked at photos, I'd probably be terrified if I came across the General...