As promised, here are some cool links involving the initial and ongoing parks development in the early 1900s, along with a beautiful network of boulevards linking them all up.

http://www.seattle.gov/PARKS/parkspaces/olmsted.htm
Seattle Park History-Olmsted Parks-note links at bottom when you open, showing all olmsted parks in seattle and olmsted boulevards, wow!

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/115316_profile02.shtml
A really interesting article about John Olmsted. A very gifted and driven guy, and here is an excerpt-

John Olmsted was both the nephew and stepson of the pioneer landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. His uncle married his mother and adopted him at a young age after his father died.

He graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School and studied architecture in London, according to the National Association for Olmsted Parks.

City leaders had been hoping to lure the founder's namesake, Frederick Olmsted Jr., but he was busy lecturing at Harvard and couldn't make the trip. Some say it was a lucky break for Seattle, since John Olmsted was really the more talented of the two men. A hard worker with a keen mind, he brought the Olmsted firm into the 20th century, organizing its billing and filing systems.

http://www.seattle.gov/friendsofolmstedparks/  
Pretty self-explanatory and there's an event in July that looks pretty interesting. I'm guessing I can contact this group as a starting point to find out about early park tree history and other trivia.

http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/transportation/heritagetree.htm

Info on Seattles Heritage Tree Program, a listing of notable trees based off of their size, example as a specimen, bit of history surrounding it/them, and listing of where they are at, whether in park, commercial space, or residential. If you have a tree you think should be listed here, click the link on their page to submit your own application. I've seen a lot of trees out in the city that are not listed in this program that are equally beautiful, bigger, etc. It is a relatively new program so I'm not saying there are trees in it that don't deserve it, and what a great program.

That's it for this days blog, oh, but lets have a tree of the day pic to close it out. These are some Coastal Redwoods in a little grove in Lincoln Park in West Seattle. There are about 25 trees in this grove and there are a couple that are among the widest/tallest I've seen in Seattle. Ill devote many days blogs to trees I've ran across in Lincoln Park I'm sure. Its my home park as I live a few blocks away and my favorite park in Seattle overall. Hit the beach on the first part of a walk and then walk back through the woods full of old-growth trees everywhere.

Go Look at Some Big Ones at Green Lake and Woodland Park!

When I made this quest a bit more official and also started this blog (see first blog), the plan was to give daily or every-few-day updates, whether the trees were in parks or residential areas and backyards, and regardless of location. I figured there'd be 2-3 little updates of gems found and I could just list them all each day.  Problem is that there are so many different kinds of big trees everywhere in this town that are prime examples of their species. I could take a 10 minute drive and see a hundred examples.  So I'm starting in the center of Seattle here for my first upates, at/in around Green Lake and Woodland Park. There will be a lot more residential updates later so if you're going to a park for some tree-viewing, you could also hit the residential spots near the park or area you're in.

Also, there's really no reason for this blog if I thought this was anything new or groundbreaking that hasn't been done. you can just google terms like 'biggest trees in seattle' or 'seattle heritage program- tree list' and have all kinds of info without ever looking at this blog. This is more of a visual display and description of all of this info that's already there (albeit a bit blandly I feel:), and hopefully some new findings I'd like to make it more fun than the info I've found online for the area already and delve into tree minutiae and its history here. I also disagree with some of the tallest tree claims for certain species, compared to viewing them and then seeing others, but there's more time for that and a need for the tools to measure from the ground. In my next blog I'll give many links to some of these resources so you have a reference point if you find interest in doing the same sort of thing.

As I get going on this more, I want to research and learn the history of when these trees were planted in these parks, what kind of challenges they faced, and how much of what was planted survived, etc.  Ill also share some info on the histories of the various major parks in Seattle. Anybody who has been around this country knows that Seattle has perhaps the finest assortment of city parks anywhere, and much of that is due to the vision and design of John Olmsted, in the early 1900's when Seattle was really building itself into a spot on the map.

Ok, enough blathering. These Sequoia and Redwood shots are from green lake and woodland park. Sequoias are such beautiful trees. They definitely stand out. Note the size of trunk base and their height above the road lanes, and the cars perspective to the trees.  Its hard to really notice them when you're the car driving along, there are just so many large trees like this everywhere in Seattle that go unnoticed by most.

I love it! Redwoods are the best at disguising themselves. The coastal redwoods growing in Seattle are all for the most part less than 100 years old, essentially toddlers, so the tallest claimed Coastal Redwood in Seattle is only 141 feet (taller ones I think-I know I've seen already, but I digress), a very tall tree but not for a mature redwood.  They'll blend right in with some Douglas Firs or really tall cedars and go unnoticed, but if you look closely, you'll sometimes see the top of one poking out of the middle of a canopy of something else, with their fuzzy-looking-from-afar, and generally dense tops. They are also loners for the most part in Seattle as they're not naturally occurring here, and likely standing as the only of their type amidst other tall trees,or in little groves of from 6-25 trees. A couple of the biggest groves of Coastal Redwoods in Seattle are within 100 yards of major boulevards in Seattle and go unnoticed unless you delve in off the beaten path just seconds. It will be interesting to see how the Sequoias and Redwoods planted here grow this far north. I'd guess it will be a lot easier to spot these trees over time as they should become the dominant trees in the skylines and at street level. Most of the time the Sequoias already are.

Seattle's Biggest Trees

Hey Everyone,

I've always loved trees and spend a lot of time outdoors. I've recently become interested in Redwood trees and as a result of a little reading and research and thinking, I now find trees of all types occupying probably way too much mind space! As I learn more about trees and their role on this planet, what affects them and what they affect, I'm naturally wanting to see the biggest or most beautiful examples of each species.

When I read about Redwoods I learned of their history on the planet and where they're at now. These are old trees and were around 65 million years ago on many areas in the Northern Hemisphere when the K-T meteor impact struck the Yuccatan Peninsula. The dinosaurs likely perished due to this impact and so did many of the worlds other plant species. The Redwoods merely shrugged their shoulders and then proceeded to reign supreme as the dominant tree in the Northern Hemisphere until an ice age 25 million years ago triggered their retreat into what are now Coastal Mountain ranges in Northern California and Southern Oregon.

When you look at a Redwood tree, you are looking at an ancient, ancient thing, and it is one of the only living things we can so clearly see that existed so long ago and in the same form. The way these trees, grow, reproduce, and repair themselves is fascinating and the worlds that exist in their crowns/canopies, on their bark and branches, and the life on them and around the forest that they impact is astounding! Understanding this is what made me start really being interested in all trees and their role, their different structures, etc. and yeah, as a result here I am starting up my first blog.

Just for the sake of knowing that they exist and to quietly enjoy their beauty now and then, I'm going to start a little project finding where all of the biggest trees are in Seattle. I encourage anyone else who shares an interest in trees to participate with me on my blog and start sharing information.

Originally, I discovered that although Redwoods are not native to Seattle now, they do grow here when transplanted in the right spot and conditions. This project was originally going to be me finding out where all of the Redwoods growing in parks in Seattle or residential areas existed, and then branching out to other areas in WA. It still is, but now with all of the big tree types.

I'm one of the economic statistics at the moment and am pretty much realizing I need to reinvent myself. I'm thinking I might want to work with trees which I could always do as a hobby and plan to, but also wondering how long in general it takes to be a trained/certified/real-world-experienced arborist for their bread and butter, and I know that the answer can obviously be completely different based on variables and situations. I'd love to chat with any arborists who have a little time. Maybe we could meet for coffee, or maybe there's a tree you want me to show you or vice versa, and I can ask you a few questions and get some input from you after we know a bit more. I'm starting to research this myself now, but nothing like a face-to-face conversation or even getting a chance to see what you do. What are your challenges as well as the highs and lows of your profession.

I'll share information about big trees around Seattle, as I find them, interesting facts, including pics, and please feel free to do the same!