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Horsebridge WoodHorsebridge Wood is a walk through North America. Before Columbus, much of America was covered in vast primeval forest. In the east, there were deciduous woodlands of oak, hickory and maple. In the north and west, conifers stretched for thousands of miles. The alluvial flood plains in the Gulf region and the south east suited pines and swamp cypress. The flat lands of southern Florida and the Caribbean islands were dominated by subtropical plants, such as coastal mangroves and, inland, palms, persimmons and evergreen oaks. When Europeans arrived, forest clearance for timber and agriculture began and today, there is very little of the old growth forest to be found. Today, botanists divide North American forests into seven distinct provinces, based on their climates and the trees that grow in them. All are represented at Wakehurst Place except the subtropical West Indian Province, some of whose trees are grown in the conservatories at Kew. In Horsebridge Wood, trees from the six provinces are planted not only in distinct areas, but where appropriate, species are planted higher or lower on its slopes to represent their growing zones relative to each other in their homeland. Among them are the some fine redwoods. In Britain, giant redwoods were called Wellingtonias, in what was considered a fitting tribute to the Iron Duke. However, the Americans had already named sequoias after Sequoyah (or George Guess), who was a renowned half-Cherokee scholar. Correctly, the Wellingtonia or giant redwood is Sequoiadendron giganteum, while the coast redwood is Sequoia sempervivens. The trees are very closely related but the differences are clear, the giant redwoods being shorter, but more massive, with a more conical crown, and with very different foliage. In Horsebridge Wood, the giant redwoods are planted higher up the slopes to represent their altitude in nature. Continue the tour
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