The Majestic Pine

In the Garden with Andrew

Andrew Bunting. Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

There is no more widely planted conifer in the Delaware Valley than the white pine, Pinus strobus. A popular conifer as communities were being developed over the last hundred years, white pines are dotted across the landscape throughout the region. The white pine is native throughout the northeastern states and the Upper Midwest, as well as along the Appalachian mountains south to Georgia. In my opinion, there is no tree more majestic and iconically northeastern than the white pine.

My neighbors have a towering white pine that was probably planted 75 years ago. It is nearly 100 feet tall and provides a stunning architectural backdrop to my garden. By nature, white pines are brittle and vulnerable to strong winds and, especially, to wet, heavy snows. These can smash branches to the ground, leaving the pines twisted, distorted, and amazingly picturesque.

From infancy to maturity, this soft-needled pine, with five needles per cluster, provides a delicate yet masculine statement in the garden. For its first several decades, it’s upright and pyramidal. After losing branches, it takes on a weathered appearance, with flat-topped tiers.

Myriad pines grow well in the Delaware Valley. Although the white pine is arguably the most common, dozens of pine species — and many interesting cultivars and selections — offer winter interest in the home garden.

The Austrian pine, Pinus nigra, has been planted frequently in recent decades. It is common as a commercial planting at malls and other businesses. With its beautiful furrowed, alabaster bark, this pine can be strikingly picturesque. But it can also suffer from tip blight, or Diplodea, which can take a toll on its health and ultimately kill it.

Just last weekend, I visited Wallingford’s Taylor Memorial Arboretum, now part of Widener University, for the first time in a long time. Right at the entrance is a stunning specimen of the lacebark pine, Pinus bungeana. This pine is native to northwestern China but performs exceedingly well around here. It can be either single- or multi-trunked in infancy, and its mottled bark is pink, white, and army-green. As the tree matures, the pink fades, leaving white and green. Eventually, the green fades too. Several years ago, travelling in Korea, I saw a specimen that was several hundred years old, and its bark was nearly pure white.

Pinus bungeana, the lacebark pine, at the Taylor Memorial Arboretum in Wallingford. Photo: Andrew Bunting

Another pine that performs very well in our part of Pennsylvania is the limber pine, Pinus flexilis, which is native to the western U. S. With long, relatively soft needles, it is similar to eastern white pine, Pinus strobus. One selection, ‘Vanderwolf’s Pyramid’, reaches 20-30 feet in height with an equal spread. With blue-green needles, it is a beautiful and robust specimen that does not require much space in the garden. 

The U. S. is home to several other native pines as well. In the South, the loblolly pine, Pinus taeda, is ubiquitous. The loblolly has a coarse texture. The loblolly’s needles grow in clusters, like other pines’; unusually, the loblolly’s have two long, dark-green, stiff needles. In its youth, this single-trunked pine grows fast and erect like a bean pole, later developing a broad, spreading canopy. Though rare in the north, there are a few reasonably sized specimens dotted throughout Swarthmore, including at 356 Vassar Avenue and 922 Strath Haven Avenue. 

The longleaf pine, Pinus palustris, is probably even rarer, but can be cultivated if given a bit of winter protection. Just across the Delaware River, in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, you can find two more natives: pitch pine, Pinus rigida, and the Virginia pine, Pinus virginiana. Both of these heat- and drought-tolerant species are shorter in stature than most pines and have a more rugged architectural appearance. Both are good options for local native habitats and plantings.

Send your gardening questions to editor@swarthmorean.com. Put “Garden” in the subject line.

Andrew Bunting is vice president of public horticulture at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and vice president of the Swarthmore Horticultural Society.