White Pine with Pinecones
I waited a long time to have the space to grow a tree this size.The long drooping needles on my white pine are soft and blue-grey. The needles are born in groups of 3-5 in smooth, soft, glaucous shoots. Pinecones are produced on trees around 15 years old. The bright green, purple, blue-grey incrusted in resin pinecones are born at the end of strong shoots and mature to dark brown at the end of the second year. I only have four pinecones this year, but it's a young tree and I feel blessed by its offerings.
In a couple of years I expect buckets full. :)
Cultivation
Pines do best in full sun and well drained acid soils.
Some pines will tolerate some degree of drought once they're well established.
My poor tree is growing in heavy clay at the moment.
I did fill the planting hole with compost mixed the existing soil.
Every year I'll mulch it with more my homegrown compost. Once the tree is established I think Mother Nature will look after her own.
This is the most expensive tree that I bought so far.
I only bought the white pine tree for the pinecones.
The tree was about four feet high and it came with one expensive pinecone. :)
This is what the pinecones looked like in the spring.
They were perfect, long green pinecones!
White Pine trees will grow anywhere from 40-45 feet high and spread of 20 feet.
I think I'll top mine off around 20-25 feet high.
I will use the pinecones to decorate and craft with.
The pine needles will be used to mulch around my acid loving plants. Right now I only have blueberries, but later on I would like to buy azaleas and rhododendrons.
I didn't find any that I like this spring, but there's always next year. :)
This is what they look like now ( Fall ) and I haven't decided what to do with the pinecones yet.
I usually craft with them, but I think I'll leave them on the tree this year until they drop off.
- How to dry Pinecones - oven method