"In over a decade of strolling through my favorite Parisian park, I never noticed it. A real California sequoia here in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. The park, a former landfill, transformed under Napoleon III into one of the French capital's greenest escapes. In August, a friend finally pointed it out to me. We were sprawled on the grass on a perfect Sunday afternoon when I mentioned an upcoming trip to Sequoia National Park in California."
"I still can't say for sure who planted it. The tree went in around the time the park opened in 1867, and it was likely the work of either Adolphe Alphand, who oversaw the Butte Chaumont's construction, or Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, the city's chief gardener at the time. Whoever did it, they probably didn't anticipate just how tall a sequoia can grow. This sequoia, now over 100 feet high, may be the tallest tree in Paris and it's still a baby."
A California sequoia grows in Paris's Parc des Buttes Chaumont, a park transformed from a former landfill under Napoleon III. The tree was likely planted around the park's 1867 opening, possibly by Adolphe Alphand or Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps. The sequoia now exceeds 100 feet and may be the tallest tree in Paris, though mature relatives in California can reach nearly three times that height. The famous General Sherman Tree measures about 275 feet and is thought to be around 2,000 years old. The sequoia stands in a northeast corner of Paris with Haussmann-era apartment blocks visible behind it.
Read at www.npr.org
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