White Pine (Eastern White Pine)

Title:
White Pine – Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)

Description:
Bring timeless beauty and stature to your landscape with the Eastern White Pine, one of North America’s most iconic and versatile evergreen trees. Known for its tall, straight trunk and soft, feathery needles, this fast-growing conifer forms an elegant, open canopy that becomes even more picturesque with age. The Eastern White Pine is valued for its adaptability, longevity, and year-round visual interest.

Needles are slender, flexible, and bluish-green, growing in distinctive bundles of five. In spring, the tree produces both male and female cones, with mature cones reaching up to 8 inches long. The bark starts smooth and greenish-brown on young trees, developing deep fissures and a gray-brown hue as the tree matures. Eastern White Pine provides shelter and food for birds and small mammals, making it a valuable addition to wildlife-friendly gardens.

This species thrives in a variety of soils but prefers well-drained, acidic locations with full to partial sun. With proper care, it can reach heights of 50–150 feet and live for centuries, making it ideal for windbreaks, privacy screens, or as a majestic specimen tree.

Key Features:

• Tall, straight-trunked evergreen with soft, bluish-green needles in bundles of five

• Fast-growing and long-lived (can live 200–400 years)

• Mature height: 50–150 ft; mature width: 20–40 ft

• Produces slender cones up to 8 inches long

• Provides shelter and food for birds and wildlife

• Adaptable to a range of soils; prefers acidic, well-drained soil

• Hardy in USDA zones 3–8

Care Instructions:
Plant in full sun to partial shade. Water regularly when young; established trees tolerate some drought. Mulch to keep roots cool and moist. Fertilize in spring with an acid-loving plant fertilizer. Prune only to remove damaged or diseased branches.

Light: Full sun to partial shade
Water: Moderate; keep moist when young
Soil: Acidic, well-drained
Growth Rate: Fast
Landscape Uses: Windbreak, privacy screen, specimen tree, wildlife habitat
Companion Plants: Red Maple, White Oak, Rhododendron, Mountain Laurel
Toxicity: Non-toxic

Botanical Name: Pinus strobus