I first encounted Sequoia trees in 2007 in a small town in Switzerland called Soglio. There were two massive trees in the back yard of an old hotel (1630) http:// www.palazzosalis.ch/ albergoi.html.
I tried unsuccessfully to germinate seeds that i collected from the pods fallen around the base. Funilly enough it took me a long time to work out which part were the seeds because the cones i collected were already empty. The green cones i collected i microwaved to try and dry them out and it was only then that i saw the flat seeds falling out. Since i microwaved them about 20 minutes its no wonder nothing germinated.
Over the following years i recognised several more in Switzerland (Baden, Lake Constance) and despite becoming more learned in the 'art' of stratification and germination, i still could not get a single seed to germinate.
I relented and took the advice of one of the many Sequoia related web sites and simply ordered some seeds from a 'reliable source' in America.
The seeds were the start of a small project i undertook with my father in his backyard in Northcote in Melbourne.
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