PlantFiles: Eastern White Pine
Pinus strobus

Commonly grown in the Metro area of the Twin Cities and in the rural areas further north to roughly the Candian Border. Most of the trees in the Twin Cities are older as very few new planting takes place. Can be noticed by their irregular top (noticed in old age - younger trees are same shape as other pine species) and mostly horizontal branches even thought near the top the branches are still raised. One of the taller tree species in Minnesota, competing with Cottonwood.

When driving into the wooded Central and Northern Minnesota, once in a while old trees can be noticed because they tower above the surrounding maples, oaks, firs, and spruces as red pine tend to be younger and found where people have planted them in rows or along roadside. Have been extentsively logged along with other tree species since the 1800s and early 1900s so far less new trees have comes up.

Deer is a big problem behind the resurgence of the White Pine as they heavily browse young trees to death. Many good speciments of White Pine along with Red Pine can be found in Scenic State Park. In some state parks, fences are erected around planting of young pines to protect them from deer.

these get HUGE!!!!. most can expect hights of over 100' and may even brake the record of 216'. wonderful bonsai. lives well over 300 years. beautiful. make sure you have lots of room for these. good for screening, fast growth, wonderful specimen.

This is my favorite tree. My house is surrounded by hundreds of large white pine. The previous owner of my lot planted them about 40 years ago--they now are about 60 feet tall and 18-24 inches dbh. They keep my house sheltered from strong winter winds off Lake Erie in the winter and they keep my house mostly shaded through the summer.

Over the years, many seeds from the trees have blown eastward into an open field behind my house. I have real rolling terrain behind my house--ranging from wetlands to sandy ridges. The white pines seem to pop up and grow pretty resilient no matter where the seeds land out back, with the exception of really wet areas (i.e., those areas that are wet almost year round). Once established (after 3-5 years?), they seem to start putting on a good 1-2' feet in height per year.

Being a naturalist at heart, I've always had a deep appreciation of this tree. I am trying to remember the year I planted this Eastern White Pine, and the best I can remember is about 1983-84. I collected it in the 'wild' as a very small sapling about 20-24" in height. A spare five-gallon bucket and shovel are always in the back of the truck whenever I go on plant scouting excursions (aka "rescue missions"). In this case there was a lot of construction work going on, and I saw the need to save this tree with the permission of the property owner. Today, it stands at 40-45' in height, and the base covers a diameter of about 20-25 feet. It is a 'soft' feeling tree with the needles very pliable and easily handled. Robins nest in the middle and upper branches: I'm sure they appreciate its seclusion as a spring and summer home. The cones are rather large at 6-8", elongated and open-scaled. I allow them to stay where they fall on the shade garden beneath the tree to add interest. The needles are raked and used as a natural mulch on perennial beds. I was only 28-29 when I started collecting conifers, and now all these years later I am seeing them mature (like me).

I love this tree.

My long winding hill of a driveway here in Culpeper, VA, is lined with huge specimens that make it seem like one is going thru a tunnel. I also have several north-facing windbreaks made up of them - several trees deep.

Regardless of the heat, humidity, & sometimes drought conditions during the summer months here, these trees seem to do extremely well. Mine are mature specimens & have only received watering & care from Mother Nature, but except for the normal needle-drop & light die-back of the lowest branches (which is normal for mature specimens of this tree), I've had no problem with them whatsover.

Having so many of them on my farm, I also love being able to use cuttings from them in holiday decorations. I use them in homemade wreaths, swags, & even as package decorations along with sprigs of Multiflora Rose hips. And during the early spring & autumn rains, the ground beneath them explodes with all different sorts of mushrooms - very colorful!

My farm definitely would not be the same if the original owner hadn't had the foresight to plant all of these beauties.

Northern Mississippi may not be the best location for this tree. It is zone 7a here so it does get cold in the winter. I started with about 600 bareroot seedling trees in 1994. There are only about 200 still alive. They seem to be much less drought tolerant than the native short leaf and loblolly, as they start to droop when there is no rain for 2 months and temperatures aproach 100 degrees. I've been cutting off lower branches as high as I can reach by hand without a ladder as they seem to tolerate cutting branches well. I do not water any of them and hope to see how many survive to be 50 years old, There are a few larger trees around town, but they probably get watered.

Seeing the lack of drought resistance, I won't plant any more but will see how the existing trees do, They look good and didn't have any problems with heat this year with temps in mid/upper 90s and 3 days over 100.

Champion white pine in MS is about 30 miles west of here and is only 57 ft tall but 5'8" in circumference. I think I can beat this height as mine are 11 years old and some are 25 or 30 ft tall.

White pine tends to shed its older needles every year. Needle drop occurs mid fall here in central NY State - about the same time as the leaves turn. You will notice that all the white pines will exhibit a "browning" effect as a good portion of the old needles will become yellowed, then reddish brown, and finally drop around November 1. This creates a wonderful mulch that breaks down quickly. It has been our observation that it usually disintegrates well by the span of the next year's drop and enriches the soil surrounding the trees. We tend to leave it to help our shade garden overwinter and have never been let down.

The needle drop may help the pines by lessening the weight in winter when the upward reaching branches tend to hold the heavy snows. Limbs are generally fairly flexible - even the larger ones. I have seen a limb on one of our trees in back, perhaps 30' long and approximately 16" thick at the trunk, bent completely to the ground with heavy ice and snow during the winter; only to spring back to place once the snow has melted or been removed. Most branches that are broken during winter are either smaller, weaker branches, or those that have died out - although we occasionally will loose a somewhat larger one like we did during the severe ice storm of January, 2003.

These pines are wonderful planted in groups. Come spring and new needle growth, the limbs again take on a royal plush appearance that persists until needle drop again in the fall.

This is an excellent tree. The mature form of Eastern White Pine is very beautiful; tall and graceful with wispy, picturesque crowns. I saw one specimen in Northern Ontario more than 100 feet tall. When these trees are young, they have a conical 'Christmas tree' form that is also quite nice. The needles of Eastern White Pine have an excellent soft texture. (like all 5-needled pines)

These trees grow quickly, are easily transplanted when young, and they make good specimen trees. The cones are noticeably large, between 4 and 8 inches, which makes them good for Christmas decorations. Eastern White Pine has a lifespan of more than 200 years and is the provincial tree of Ontario. Also known as Weymouth Pine.

I've included a photograph of mature Eastern White Pines above. Using my mother for scale, I have determined that the tallest tree in the photo is 84 feet tall. The photograph clearly shows the excellent form of the pines mentioned earlier.

I have also included an image of the aforementioned large pine-cones. Collecting it was a royal pine. (pain) All the cones on the ground were either relatively small or somewhat damaged. I had to jump up really high to grab this one, only to find it covered in pine resin that got stuck all over my hands.

Pinus strobus is very fast-growing and great for screening. However, it is prone to storm damage from both lightning and wind, at least in our area. This pine retains it's lower branches, so it is great for privacy and for placing behind spring blooming shrubs and smaller trees.

A tall upland tree with few large limbs arranged in horizontal whorls around the tree.

Needles are 2 to 4 inches long and occuring in bundles of 5. This is the only eastern pine tree with needles in bundles of 5. There are a few western pines that have these, but no other eastern tree.

Bark is not as scaly as other pines, but dark with deep furrows. Height 80' to 110' for mature trees.

This is one of the tallest and important trees in the Northeast, but it has been so extensively logged that few virgin trees are left.It once grew to heights of 200' to 220', but few of these trees remain.