The Garden's two Swamp Cypress, Taxodium distichum, have just turned a beautiful fox-fur russet. They grow directly from the Lake bed, and the copper cones against the limpid water and blue-grey autumn skies are a magical sight.
They are grown close to their nearest relatives, the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) known only from the fossil record until its rediscovery in China in 1846.
Both trees are unusual examples of deciduous rather than evergreen conifers and contribute glowing ember colours to the autumn landscape.
