There is in Spain a majestic palace at whose entrance you will find standing guard the most amazing collection of giant trees. The palace is located in the town of San Ildefonso in the province of Segovia, which if you are not familiar with Spain, is about an hours drive north-west of Madrid.The Royal Palace at San Ildefonso was built by king Philip V starting in 1719 and was patterned a great deal on the French palace of Versailles which was built by Philip´s grandfather Luis XIV of France.
There are a great many trees around the royal gardens but in this post I want to focus on two Giant Sequoias near the front entrance of the main palace. Giant Sequoias are not native to Spain but there were most likely brought back to Spain by Spanish explorers who started establishing missions in California in the late 18th Century. The most reliable information that I have found states that the Sequoias of San Ildefonso were planted around the year 1870 which means that they are now about 140 years old.
There are two Giant Sequoias at San Ildefonso. The one on the left in the image above has been called "el Rey" (the King) in Spanish and is 40 meters tall and has a trunk circumference of 13 meters. "the King" is more rugged looking of the two and has the look of having been broken off at the top at some point.
The other Sequoia is called "la Reina" (the Queen) and is 34 meters tall and has a trunk circumference of 9 meters. "the Queen" (image below) is definitely the better looking of the two and has a fine conical shape.
A sign near these trees identifies their species as well as those of the other great trees that stand nearby. I will mention some of these in a future post.
Very cool trees. I actually prefer the appearance of el Rey over la Reina. These are probably some of the oldest sequoias outside of their native region.
ReplyDeleteThey were the most amazing trees! I loved the place and the gardens but the trees were simply spectacular!!
ReplyDeleteen mi pueblo, San Rafael, una heno y tambien nadie sabe como llego aquí
ReplyDeletehay una en San Rafael y nadie sabe como llego
ReplyDeleteYou have mixed up the names, the biggest is the "neat" one, and that one is the El Rey. Measured recently, El Rey ~4,3 m breast height diameter. and La Reina ~3,5-3,7 m BHD (somehow the measurements vary). La Reina was hit by a lightning in 1992, which is why it looks so messy. Up till that point they were nearly the same height. El Rey is 43 m now, but La Reina was 42 m. when it got hit!!!
ReplyDelete