I made this oak’s acquaintance courtesy of “Plants for the Winter Garden” (Timber Press, 2024), by Warren Leach. The author ...

Have you ever wondered what the largest living organism on Earth is? Well, you might be surprised to learn that it's not a giant blue whale or a sequoia tree; it's a fungus!

It’s a giant sequoia, a member of Sequoiadendron giganteum, one of several surviving species of redwoods. The living crown (this one atop the General Sherman, at center) was once a distant mystery.

If you have dreamed of seeing big trees you are going to love the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite National Park.

I also learned about a silvery-blue variety of giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum var. Hazel Smith). A solo sequoia seedling that had been transported from Oregon to New Jersey survived the ...