Description
Pinus – Pine –
There are 115-120 monoecious, medium to tall evergreen, coniferous trees and a few shrub in the Pinaceae Family, in this genus. They are widely distrubuted in forest mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Central America but also in Europe, Northern Africa and Southeastern Asia. The bark is often fissured, and in some species is divided into irregular, plate like sections. Pines bear small bundles of 2-5 rarely 1 or 6-8, needle like, light to dark green or yellow-green to bluish or gray green leaves, which usually persist for 2-4 years sometimes for longer, and range from quite small to as much as 18″ long. The winter buds are usually cylindrical or egg shaped, up to 20″ long, and often resinous. Male and female cones are borne on the same tree, females cones take 2, or occasionally 3 years to ripen, the seeds are winged in most species. Male cones are yellow and catkin like, clustered at the shoot bases. Pines are useful as specimen trees, and for shelter and windbreaks, some cultivars and slow growing species are suitable for a rock garden or mixed border.
Pines are divided into 2 major groups, the white pines (soft pines) with typically 5 needles and non woody cone scales, and the black pines (hard pines) with typically 2 to 4 needles and woody cone scales.
Grow these easily grown plants in any well drained soil in full sun, but may need a symbiotic soil fungus to assist nutrient uptake on poorer soils.
Prone to sawfly, caterpillars, scale insects, mealybugs, miners, borers, blister, rust, butt rot, blights (including Diplodia tip blight), pitch canker, cone rust, tar spot, and brown cubical rot.
P. mugo ‘Gnom’ – Mountain Pine – Mugo Pine – Dwarf Mountain Pine – Swiss Mountain Pine – This slow growing shrub is squat when young, becoming more rounded, grows 6′ feet tall and 6′ feet wide. It has thick, ascending or spreading branches, scaly gray bark, green shoots, becoming brown, and very resinous, ovoid-oblong buds. It produces well spaced, dark to bright green leaves, 1 1/4-3″ long, are borne in pairs. It bears oval to long conical, dark brown female cones are 3/4-2 ½” long and symmetrical at maturity. Does not tolerate extreme heat or dry conditions.
Zones 3-7
