Well, I'm no pro, but that looks like a pretty special tree to me. Dawn Redwood is in the UCONN database and states that it is of Chinese origin, fast growing, and easily transplantable. uh-huh. If the tree is healthy, I vote for "Continue to ignore it", pour a glass of wine and celebrate being the owner of a fine specimen in a natural setting.

Jane

Don't mess with perfection. That is one beautiful tree! It's a good thing that you haven't removed the lower limbs because they are important for the trunk to develop that fluted appearance that is so desirable.

Do you know how old the tree is?

I vote for don't mess with it too. It's just so gorgeous. I wouldn't have even noticed anything about what's around the trunk if you hadn't brought attention to the area. The natural look works fine.

Lisa

Well thanks so much for the input! You can see that leaving well enough alone has been my inclination, but I've always wondered if there was something else I should be doing with that ground. I may get in there and pull out the worst of the weeds, but now I feel better sticking with a very natural approach.

This particular tree was planted in 1948. I can guess that some of you know there is a pretty interesting story behind the metasequoias. Briefly, these trees have been around since prehistoric times, and there are plenty of fossils with their imprints. However, they were believed to be extinct, until the mid-1940s when a living grove of them was discovered in China. The Arnold Arboretum in Cambridge sponsored a seed-collecting expedition. The first seeds came back in 1948. The previous owner of my house was great friends with Professor Merrill at the Arnold Arboretum, so this tree is from that original batch of seeds. She was "Miss February" in a Notable Trees of New England calendar a while back :-) Actually, she was the covergirl, too! So you can see, I deserve no credit for her upbringing, as I've only lived here ten years.

I did go outside and get a full length photo of the tree today:

2Lips
That is one beautiful tree and I love the history. Your property looks like an arboretum, just beautiful. Do you have any other plantings with a history? Thanks for sharing.

What a gorgeous tree! You are very fortunate to have it. Not only that it is such a mature specimen that no one ruined by pruning it wrong but the fact that it has such a special history.

I am torn. I want to suggest trying to grow some perennials for dry shade.I seem to be recommending Epimediums a lot lately. I am just so h*appy with mine. I even tried to plant two small divisions at the base of a Maple which is notorious for not allowing anything to grow under it, expecting they would die out, but they are back this year, looking great. And I didn't even water them last year. I have only varieties that clump, but I know there are some that travel. Maybe you could plant some of the traveling varieties at the outside edge of that weedy area, lay down newspaper and a very thin layer of mulch over the weedy area inward almost to the trunk and the epimediums might just spread under the tree. I think this option would be easy on the tree roots if you were careful and have a good chance of being successful with a small investment of time. Epimedium look great all year and couldn't be more shade and drought tolerant and come back year after year. I consider them bullet proof and care free.

On the other hand, I don't know anything about that particular t*ree especially if it would be sensitive to even mildly disturbing it's roots. With my Maples, I have just found places where there were no roots and planted shallow and hoped for the best and with epimediums, it worked. So you do have that option if you want it, but if you would have concern about disturbing such a great tree, then leaving it as is is a good option too. As Lisa said, I would not have noticed the weeds if you hadn't pointed them out.

Thank you everyone. I did clean up the worst of the weeds (bittersweet, etc), and left things like violets and ferns and some other low-growing weeds that are green and not too offensive. It does look better with just that 10 minute clean up. Duh!

So now I will think about getting in there and adding maybe a couple of intentional plants such as epimedium (nice idea), or maybe some bloodroots and other spring ephemerals. But I will be cautious about tree roots, plus, I think I agree that a natural look is best, so I'm not going to try to really cover it with a groundcover that will look too intentionally planted. I appreciate the input.

Runktrun, thank you, and yes there are some other special trees and plantings. Maybe I'll try to pull together a few pictures of my favorites and start a separate post. Stay tuned :-)

My grandmother and grandfather planted one of these in Sandwich in 1960, I believe, and it is one beautiful tree. I have no advice for you, just wanted to say thanks for letting me "visit" another metasequoia. :-)

Just came upon this post. Wonderful tree!
I have a few that are smaller. I plant ferns under some, which go great with the fernlike foliage.
Under another, I wanted to plant some rhododendrons, so I pruned a couple of branches, and planted some blood red hybrids to grow very freeform.
I have daffodils under all of my redwoods. Loads of them.