Walking through the arboretum in the fall, you will see two towering pumpkin -orange conifers. The ground below them is covered with their needles and their branches are pointing up to the clear blue sky. These two deciduous conifers are the Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) and the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides).
Dawn Redwood grows 60 to 70 feet tall and 15 to 25 feet wide.  The leaves are opposite on the branchlets and the cones are long-stalked and pendulous. The limbs and trunk join in arrangements that resemble armpits, a good way to distinguish it from the Baldcypress.  This tree has an upright pyramidal habit with ascending branches. Walk down the steps at the main entrance into the gardens and the Dawn Redwood will be on your left.
Baldcypress grows 50 to 70 feet tall and 25 to 40 feet wide. The leaves spiral around the branchlets. The short-stalked, round cones fall apart like a jigsaw puzzle. The distinguishing characteristic of this tree are the ‘knees’ it forms in swamps.

Although it does well in wet spots, it also does well in dry conditions, but you won’t get any ‘knees’.  Baldcypress is native here.  It is growing in the annual flower garden on the way to the greenhouse.

These two cousins are in the Taxodiaceae family  Both are tall trees suitable for large estates and parks. They have soft, ferny looking foliage in spring and summer and excellent fall color. Their bark peels off in long thin strips. The good trunk and branching characteristics are attractive in the winter landscape. The Dawn Redwood and Baldcypress are appealing trees in all four seasons.

Come take a stroll through the gardens and look low at the needle covered ground and high at the branches turning up to the sky. Two cousins worth visiting!