Colchester - Castle Park

Castle Park is laid out around the old castle in Colchester, near the town centre. There are many well laid out flower beds, and a wide range of trees can be seen. Most important, of course, is the young Giant Redwood, which is shown next to the house above. There is also a superb Dawn Redwood which stands near the Bowling Green. The left hand photograph above shows it in its Autumn colour, the leaves having turned a deep orange. The year this was taken was not a great Autumn for the Dawn Redwood, Will Jenkins (Park Ranger) said that in other years the orange has been far more vivid. One type of Redwood the park did not have was a Coast Redwood. In November 2005, however, with the help of Will, I planted one that I had grown from seed and which stood at a height of 1.78m at 2 years old.

Job Done!    Then my Dad inspects the growth rate three months later!

Will sent this photograph in March 2007 - now about 8ft high

Common Names and Latin Name	No.	Latitude and Longitude		OS National Grid	Elevation (above sea-level)	Height	Girth	Date Measured
		WGS84	OSGB36
Giant Redwood, Wellingtonia Sequoiadendron giganteum	1	N51.89239 E0.90210	N51.89191 E0.90384	TL 99791 25518	37ft (11.28m)	10.9m	1.71m	June 2006
Dawn Redwood Metasequoia glyptostroides	2
Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens	3	N51.89421 E0.90499	N51.89373 E0.90673	TL 99981 25728	41ft (12.5m)	1.78m 2.6m	--	June 2006 March 2007
Girth was measured at 1.5 metres from ground