The Kaldenkirchen Sequoia Farm (german: Sequoiafarm Kaldenkirchen) is a German arboretum that has been used as a biological institute for many years. Part of the protected area in the city of

Nettetal Nettetal is a municipality in the district of Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated in the Lower Rhine region. History Nettetal was founded on January 1, 1970, when the former townships Leuth, Breyell, Hinsbeck and former to ...

, it is situated in the "

Kaldenkirchen Kaldenkirchen ( li, Kaldekerke) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, situated close to the Dutch border at Venlo. It is part of the municipality of Nettetal. History The earliest reference to “Caldenkirken” appears in a document ...

Grenzwald" (forest bordering Germany and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

). Nettetal lies in the

Lower Rhine region The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany between approximately Oberhausen and Krefeld in the East and the Dutch border around Kleve in the West. ...

of Germany.

History and use

In 1946, Illa Martin and Ernst J. Martin, both dentists and dendrologists in Kaldenkirchen, founded an arboretum close to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

border. There, and in a nearby laboratory-plantation several acres wide from 1952 on, they cultivated 1,500

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

(''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') seedlings from seeds of US origin from Martin's nephew Albert A. Martin of Santa Barbara, CA. The seeds were collected in Sequoia National Forest at different elevations, wrapped in burlap to preserve them and sent to Germany. They wanted to find out if the giant sequoia, which had existed in Germany before the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

, could be introduced to German

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

. There was on the one hand an area of purely giant sequoia, on the other an experimental arboretum with trees such as ''

Abies grandis ''Abies grandis'' (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea leve ...

'', '' Abies concolor var. lowiana'' and

Coast Douglas-fir ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward t ...

s. The project was financially supported by the German Research Foundation and met with great interest from dendrological circles, particularly in Great Britain and in the USA. Part of the field exclusively planted with giant sequoia was reserved for obtaining results of productivity by the "Ecology and Forestry Department" of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

(NRW). The two dendrologists made further experiments growing seedlings of

coast redwood ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...

dawn redwood ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus ''Metasequoia'', one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now ...

and numerous kinds of

southern beech ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

es and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

trees. More than 13,000 were handed over to forestry officers, to scientists and to

plant nurseries A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

. As time went by, the park known as the "Sequoia Farm" became bigger and bigger, developing into a highly respected arboretum. It has more than 400 varieties of trees and interesting ground flora and is part of the "Protected area of Maas- Schwalm-

Nette Nette can refer to: Rivers * Nette (Innerste), a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, tributary to the Innerste * Nette (Hase), a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, tributary to the Hase * Nette (Middle Rhine), a river in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, tr ...

", so-called after the three rivers that run through the area. After the death of Ernst J. Martin in 1967, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) took over the farm. At first, the teacher-training institute of NRW, later on the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, and, between 1987 and 2007, the

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

made it a centre of dendrological studies. Since 2013 the arboretum has been in possession of the registered society "Sequoiafarm e.V.". From April to October it is open to the public on Sundays and holidays.

Notable trees (selection)

References

* Ernst J. Martin: ''Mammutbäume in der deutschen Forstwirtschaft?'' In: ''Die Umschau in Wissenschaft und Technik''. Frankfurt 1954, * Ernst J. Martin: ''Sequoia – eine gehölzkundliche Betrachtung''. In: ''Holz-Zentralblatt'' No. 83. Stuttgart 1955, * Ernst J. Martin: ''Die Sequoien und ihre Anzucht''. In: ''Jahrbuch der Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft''. No. 60. 1957/1958 * Herbert Hubatsch: ''Von der Sequoiafarm zur Biologischen Station''. In: ''Heimatbuch des Kreises Kempen-Krefeld'', Kempen 1973 * Helge Breloer: ''Zur Erinnerung an die Sequoia-Farm in Kaldenkirchen''. In: ''Baum-Zeitung''. No. 1/1998, * Ado Lappen: ''Die Sequoiafarm in Nettetal-Kaldenkirchen''. In: ''Beiträge zur Gehölzkunde 2011''. Hemmingen 2011,

Notes

External links

Photographs. History of the Arboretum Sequoiafarm (German)

Sequioafarm Kaldenkirchen in "Projekt Mammutbaum" (German)

Ernst J. Martin in "Projekt Mammutbaum“ (German)

List of stocks of the woody plants
{{coord, 51, 18, 32, N, 6, 10, 20, E, display=title Arboreta in Germany Dendrology Education in North Rhine-Westphalia Forestry in Germany Sequoioideae 1950 establishments in West Germany