PlantFiles: Aleppo Pine
Pinus halepensis

Our allepo pine is at least 37 years old. Healthy, & misshapen but adds a touch of the forest in our backyard. Vinca grows very well under it. Our problem: it hangs into the neighbor's yard and over our pool making for quite a mess. Looking for advice on how to save my tree but prune and trim it down. It is 40 feet with a codominant branch hanging in the neighbor's yard. Can we cut it off without killing it? Advice on how to reshape and prune, please. Mishapen is okay. It was $$$$ to hire an arborist.

So far this pine is doing well in my zone 9b yard.

I bought it as a table-top Christmas decoration at the local Target a couple years back. I didn't expect it to be a real tree, much less plant it.

But after the holidays, on a whim, I moved it into one of those large half-barrels and put it in the backyard. I watered it. I threw a little fertilizer on it once in a while. Still not expecting anything.

A couple months ago I found it had outgrown the half-barrel and wanted space. After reading about it here, I thought maybe I'd go ahead and do an experiment and see if it would grow here in FL. I never see these anywhere down here, so I have the feeling it might not make it, eventually dying, but I have no idea what would kill it (yet).

I've got it planted in the ground now, in half-sun and half light-shade. It seems to be THRIVING so far. Has many new candles on it, etc. Looks lush and green. I see butterflies sitting on it all the time.

We'll see!

Should add zones 8a and 8b to it's hardiness range. I am in 8a and it is one of the more commonly grown trees here.

This tree is widely used in the High Desert regions of Southern California. It's my opinion the Eldarica is far superior and uniform in shape and color but never the less, this tree remains popular. It is easy to maintain with regular watering and is fast growing. Tends to lean heavily if planted in windy areas and can take on weird, less than noble looking charecteristics. Look for young specimens with straight trunks with the needles uniformly above and around the tree. Trim off branches that appear likley to turn into co-dominant leaders. With regular watering and early attention, this tree can look uniformly fluffy and very attractive. Pretty bark, small and scaly.

The Aleppo pine is not doing well in the Desert, (Pheonix) AZ
All over the valley they are dieing.It could be because of now five years of drought. And poor soil.