Joshua Windus, reporter for The Americus Times-Recorder.

For years, my dad told me about seeing a sequoia and a redwood growing in Georgia. He always wanted to try planting redwoods on the farm in Alabama to see if they would grow.

I eventually became curious myself. I eventually ordered some seeds online. Germination involved soaking them in distilled water. For good measure, I added a jar of smoke, since some plants germinate better after fire. After soaking them for a day or so, I put them on a damp paper towel in the fridge for a few weeks, mimicking the cold damp of the forest floor before spring.

I think I used a 110. I was told to expect a very low germination rate, but it wasn’t quite as bad as I expected. At least a few dozen sprouted.
However, not all of them made it. Despite coming from a much more northly clime, many died the first winter. I suspect they were used to having the protection of older trees above them. Some blades died off, and others turned a deep burned green from the cold. The first August claimed many. However, those that survived the first year fared better.
It’s been two years, and the seven survivors appear to be winning the fight. Green shoots are growing back from small, hardened trunks. For the first time, since germination, the number has increased, with a small shoot forming with roots of its own that my dad repotted.

I plan to plant them all this fall, aside from the young off-shoot. Hopefully a few will make it.