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Plant library  ·  Conifers & Evergreens

Coast Redwood

Sequoia sempervirens

Coast Redwood is an imposing evergreen conifer for a large, permanent landscape position. At roughly 80 feet tall and 30 feet wide, it belongs where its vertical form can remain a defining feature rather than a future constraint. Its dense, year-round presence makes it more suitable as a long-term canopy tree or property-scale specimen than as part of a small mixed border.

Sunlight Full Sun
Water Moderate
USDA zones 7–9
Planning spacing 30 ft
Typical mature size 80 ft tall, 30 ft wide

Coast Redwood spacing and mature footprint

Space Coast Redwood 30 ft apart, measured center to center (9.1 m).

The mature spread is about 30 ft (9.1 m), so neighboring plants just meet at maturity without crowding.

Treat 30 ft as a planning baseline — cultivar and local growing conditions shift the final footprint.

Compare with the full conifer and evergreen spacing chart

Three plants set 30 ft apart, center to center; shaded circles show the 30 ft mature spread.

Placement and use

Give Sequoia sempervirens an open site well away from buildings, overhead lines, driveways, and tight bed edges. Use it as a single anchor in a broad lawn, meadow edge, or large perimeter planting, leaving clear access around the base for establishment care. Do not position it where its eventual canopy will overtake sitting areas, vegetable beds, or sun-dependent planting zones.

Spacing and mature footprint

Space multiple trees 30 feet apart, center to center. That distance matches the expected mature width, so adjoining canopies may eventually meet rather than leave a broad gap between trees. In a scaled plan, reserve a 30-foot-wide planting envelope for each tree and keep paths, fences, and lower plantings outside that footprint where possible.

Sun, water, and soil

Choose a full-sun position with moist, well-drained ground and dependable soil moisture. Cool, moist coastal conditions suit this tree especially well, while dry soils are a poor fit. A site that dries hard in summer will need careful reconsideration before this tree takes a central, permanent place in the plan.[1][2]

Seasonal notes

The evergreen canopy holds its visual weight through winter, so it should be treated as a year-round source of shade and screening. Its youthful pyramidal outline becomes more conical with age as lower branches are gradually lost, opening more space beneath the trunk while the crown continues to dominate the skyline.[2]

Planning caveats

This is a long-lived tree for hardiness zones 7 through 9, not a short-term filler for an undersized yard. Its fast growth and eventual scale call for a site that can remain largely unchanged for decades. Deer resistance can be useful at the establishment stage, but it does not reduce the need for substantial permanent space.

Growing facts

Botanical name
Sequoia sempervirens
Type
Conifer
Category
Conifers & Evergreens
Lifecycle
perennial
USDA hardiness zones
7–9
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Planning spacing
30 ft
Typical mature size
80 ft tall, 30 ft wide
Plan a garden with coast redwood

References

  1. Sequoia sempervirens - Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden
  2. California Redwood - Sequoia sempervirens — North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox