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Sustainable Rossmoor

HomeTree tours
Dawn Redwood


Tree Tours in Rossmoor


Trees have been admired, worshipped as sacred, studied, captured by poets and artists, and used by people throughout the ages. They evoke feelings such as joy, awe, reverence, and peace.


Nature surrounds us in Rossmoor with magnificent trees everywhere. It’s hard not to be drawn to their sheer beauty, brilliant flowers, and stunning leaf colors in the Fall.


Trees have been on our planet for about 350 million years and are amazing at what they do, so effortlessly. They provide enormous benefits to us and to the environment we all live in. And without trees and the oxygen they release, we could not survive on this Earth. Some of their most important benefits include:


  • combat climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from the air and storing carbon in their leaves, branches and roots
  • purify the air by removing harmful pollution
  • provide shade, cooling, and help to conserve energy
  • collect and clean rainwater runoff and store it in the soil


Our tree tours enhance and deepen our appreciation of the variety of trees in Rossmoor, species native to California as well as many from other parts of the world. We learn about their place of origin, biological characteristics, and their response to climate change. Adding to the experience, culturally significant information about the trees is shared, interesting stories and fun facts. The more we learn about the life of trees, the more we can care for them and enjoy their beauty for a long time to come.


See 22 Benefits of Trees


Photo: Dawn Redwood, a living fossil, native to China. It is related to the iconic Coast Redwood and Giant Sequoia. Unlike these conifers, the Dawn Redwood loses its leaves in the winter. They can be seen in Entry 18, Golden Rain Road.


Trees on Tours

Dollar Park


Valley Oak (Quercus lobata)

Majestic and magnificent, the Valley Oak is native to California, largest of the North American oaks, living for 300 years or more. Known as a “keystone species”, the foundation of the ecosystem, it provides shelter, food, and other benefits to surrounding plants and animals.


Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens)

A large conifer, native to California, drought tolerant and is well-adapted to the dry climate. The thick, fibrous bark of the tree provides protection in low severity fires.


Western Sycamore (Plantanus racemose)

Native to California along the coast and Central Valley, this large tree can be drought tolerant with deep tap roots that search for water. The characteristic patchwork bark is very striking.


Olive (Olea europea)

Living for hundreds of years with gnarled trunks, the Olive tree is native to the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa. Drought tolerant and fire resistant, it is cultivated for olive oil and edible olives.


Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara)

At home high in the Himalayan mountains, the Deodar Cedar is a graceful, ornamental evergreen conifer. Drought and heat tolerant, it is well-adapted to California’s low rain climate.


Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata)

Well-known as the winter home for Monarch butterflies, the California native Monterey Pine is a large, evergreen conifer. Usually drought tolerant, today they are increasingly stressed by lack of water and attack by the bark beetle, resulting in death.

 

Dollar Patio


European White Birch or Silver Birch (Betula pendula)

Found in Europe and Asia, graceful with weeping branches, delicate leaves and white fissured trunk, the White Birch turns a stunning yellow in the Fall. A water-hungry tree, it graces many a lawn.


Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum)

Papery, exfoliating bark resembling cinnamon curls on the trunk of the tree make this a most distinctive tree. Native to China, it was brought to the US in 1900.


Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)

Growing in Asia, North and South America, this is one of he earliest flowering trees, fossils dating to almost 100 million years ago. The tree has large, glossy, green leaves and stunning flowers with a heady scent, very attractive to beetles.


Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)

Cultivated in Japan for over 400 years, it is a symbol of beauty, peace and resilience. Beautiful five-pointed leaves appear in a variety of shapes and spectacular Fall colors.



Buckeye Tennis Court vicinity


Ginkgo or Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba)

A living fossil, Gingkos lived when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Native to China but cultivated widely now. Distinctive fan-shaped leaves transform into a shimmering shower of gold in the Fall.


Pin Oak (Quercus palustris)

Native to North America, its lovely pyramid canopy make it a common landscape and shade tree. Leaves turn brilliant red, copper and bronze in the Fall.


California Buckeye (Aesculus californica)

A unique Western species, this is native to California and well-adapted to long, dry, hot summers. Unusual among trees it loses it leaves in summer to avoid water loss. Fragrant, white spiked flowers appear in early spring attracting native honeybees (toxic to non-natives).


Coast Redwood or California Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)

Iconic, giant trees native to California grow along the foggy northern coast. Over 350 feet, they can live up to 2,000 years. Redwoods can create their own climate, and because of their size can capture and store more carbon than any other tree.




Pin oak
Paper birch in Fall
Coast Redwood
Silver Maple in Fall