Wednesday, 8:30 A. 35 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The sky is overcast but the barometer predicts sunshine. The thaw continues.The pine pictured is the jack pine, Pinus banksiana. It is native to Wisconsin sand barrens, and in our area is prevalent in the Moqua barrens, north and west of Ashland and Washburn. It has stout short needles, green to yellow green in color, and curved cones that often persist on the tree until a fire or extreme weather conditions cause them to open. It is a tough little tree, the most northern of the pines, its range extending far north into Canada. It grows best under very poor soil conditions and cold winters with lots of snow. It makes a great accent plant in the home landscape where conditions are appropriate, because it tends to have a very irregular shape, partly because of the depredations of a borer that kills and distorts a lot of the new growth. It is one of my very favorite trees, in part because it is reminiscent of Pinus virginiana, the pitch pine, which grows in one of my favorite places, the pine barrens of New Jersey, and party because there was one growing next to the front porch of our very first home in West Allis, Wisconsin, obviously brought back from the Northland by a previous owner. Trees and other plants which remind us of wild or unusual places we are fond of should have a place in our home landscapes, regardless of whether others appreciate them or not.
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