Good Day, I live in Southern California, about 50+ miles north of Los Angeles (Ventura County). We have 5 redwood trees (40' tall), planted in a group, spaced about 12-15' apart about 25' from our house. We have just planted another 6 (12' tall), about the same distance apart. We want to plant severl more. Questions: 1. What would be the recommended minimum distance from a Coast Redwood and a structure, such as a pool? 2. We sometimes get "Santa Ana" winds at gusting in excess of 50 mph. In prior years, some of the local eucalyptus have fallen, but I believe they are fairly shallow rooted. Any concerns or recommedations regarding our redwoods? 3. We love the peace and serenity we get from our existing redwoods. We are trying to create a small forest. Any recommendation on other species of trees or plants to go along with our landscaping. Thank you.
Q.1. Depends on the quality of construction of the pool. If the pool wall is sufficiently resilient and with some flexibility, you could plant a redwood right next to it - but it would have to be a very strong (and therefore very expensive) construction. Conversely, a brittle concrete wall could potentially be cracked even by a tree 10-15 metres away. Q.2. Generally, very windfirm. I've seen them blown down by hurricane force winds, but not less. One proviso to this - a potbound tree planted with coiled roots is considerably more likely to blow down at some point in the future (the coiled root acts as a permanent weak hinge point, liable to bend at any time). Make sure the roots are properly spread out at planting. Q.3. Try other local native species, such as Big-cone Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa) and Bristlecone Fir (Abies bracteata). It won't be easy though, there's nothing that can really keep up with Coast Redwood growth rates. Stay away from Eucalyptus (as you've already found out!).
You can control root system by using a deep watering method. By watering below the surface you will push the root system to develop much deeper then simply surface watering. Which resolves two of your issues. I live on a golf course and since trees are surface watered, every time the Santa Ana winds blow they lose trees.
Trees are always surface rooted. Fine feeder roots need air. The air is near the surface. Some arid climate trees also make substantial networks of roots that go deep, but many other kinds have a very small number of roots that go to much depth at all. Look at a fallen tree sometime, chances are good it will have most of the roots near the surface.
