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Dawn Redwood
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Also called water-fir and water-larch
Dawn Redwood is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Dawn Redwood
Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 4–8. Expect it to reach about 45 ft tall and 26 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 10 years (checked).
Pets
- Not yet checked for pets.
Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.
No toxicity note is on file for Dawn Redwood. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.
What was checked
Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.
When to plant Dawn Redwood
Plant Dawn Redwood in spring once the soil is workable, or by very early fall at the latest: an evergreen needs its roots down well before the ground freezes. In zone 6, the middle of its hardy zones 4 to 8, that is March to May, or August on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 6, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 6 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Dawn Redwood get?
45 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult26 ftwideSee Dawn Redwood in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Dawn Redwood
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Give Dawn Redwood about 26 ft of clear ground in every direction, measured from its center. It is one plant with room around it, not a row, and a raised bed is too small for it.
Add Dawn Redwood to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Where these facts come from
Dawn Redwood's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, years to mature size and trait tags were checked against 9 published sources on October 19, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources. Bloom was checked as well: Dawn Redwood bears no flowers, so there is no bloom window for a source to carry.
- Missouri Botanical Gardenspread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags
- NC State Extensionspread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags
- pepinieres-minier.frMinierheight, spread, sun, water and years to mature size
- Plant Addictsspread, hardiness zones, sun and water
- The Morton Arboretumspread, hardiness zones, water and trait tags
- Chicago Botanic Gardenhardiness zones, sun and water
- University of Arkansas ExtensionUniversity of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension S...height, water and years to mature size
- University of Illinois Extensionheight, hardiness zones and sun
- RHSRoyal Horticultural Societyheight and sun
How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.
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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.