Monumental trees in Benmore botanic garden in Benmore

Here 5 trees are described in Benmore botanic garden in Benmore (county of Argyll and Bute).

Benmore Botanic Garden is a large thriving botanic garden situated between Dunoon and Loch Eck, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.

Benmore is a satellite garden under the management of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, as is its sister garden Logan Botanic Garden.

A very remarkable feature of this lovely mountain garden, is the so called "Avenue of Giant Redwoods".

This impressive avenue of giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) was planted in 1863 by the American Piers Patrick, who was then the owner of Benmore estate (http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3146/benmore1910.jpg';, 'Benmore','top=70,left=70,width=665,height=595'); return false" href="http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3146/benmore1910.jpg">photo of the avenue in 1910).

Of the 50 planted trees, the weakest one did not survive the heavy weather of 1968, so this avenue now consists of 49

year old giant redwoods that are about 50 m (165 ft) tall.

The tallest one has a height of 54 m (177 ft) and many are between 50 to 53 m (165 to 174 ft) tall.

In this group the tallest giant sequoia of Europe, and very probably the tallest one outside of their native range in California, can be found.

As explained elsewhere, giant redwoods can grow up to a height of 93 m (305 ft) in their native range.

So the Benmore redwoods are only young, fast growing teenagers! The rainy climate of the west of Scotland appears to be ideal for them so within a couple of hundred years, they might outgrow their American cousins and grow larger than the old giant sequoias of California...

More information on Benmore Botanic Garden...

The trees

Avenue of Giant Redwoods:

Specimen $\text{[math]}$	Girth $\text{[math]}$	Height $\text{[math]}$
Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) "1715"	?	?

Entrance:

Specimen $\text{[math]}$	Girth $\text{[math]}$	Height $\text{[math]}$
Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) "1718"	> 4.00 m	?
Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) "1716"	?	?