The various pines have many different personalities. Most are
large trees. Some are much smaller. A few are even low shrubs.
The various pines have many different personalities. Most are large trees. Some are much smaller. A few are even low shrubs.
Many have sparse foliage. Some are quite densely foliated. Their symmetry can be very irregular or remarkably conical. Most are best in the wild, outside of refined landscapes. Yet, a few are adaptable to home gardens.
Scotch pine, Pinus sylvestris, is one of the more practical pines for local landscapes. It only needs good drainage.
Where soil is dense, Scotch pine should be watered only occasionally. Fertilizer is rarely needed, and can actually cause awkwardly lanky growth.
Although Scotch pines can get taller than 70 feet in their native habitat, they rarely get more than 20 feet tall locally.
When young, they usually have a symmetrically conical form with a single central trunk. They develop a broader, irregular branch structure as they mature. “Nana” and “Waterei” are dwarves.
As the name implies, “Pendula” has pendulous (drooping) limbs and sprawling branch structure.
The foliage of Scotch pine is perhaps the most common pine foliage used for floral design.
The stiff, somewhat bluish needles are approximately two inches long, and arranged in pairs. (The number of needles that are bundled together is important to the classification of pines.)
Foliage can turn slightly brown in response to unusually cold weather, but recovers as weather warms in spring.
The two-inch long cones turn from green to reddish brown, and eventually to grayish brown. The reddish or grayish brown bark is covered with thin, finely textured flakes that resemble breakfast cereal.
With annual pruning in spring, a Scotch pine can be grown in a container as a living Christmas tree. Immature new shoots, known as “candles,” should be pruned back to about half their length as they develop.
Tony Tomeo is a consulting horticulturist and arborist for New Image Landscape of Fremont. His weekly radio broadcast, “New Image Garden Report,” can be heard at 8:10am on Friday mornings on KSCO, 1080 AM of Santa Cruz. Tony can be reached at (888) 226-9191 or
tt****@ne***************.com
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