RED PINE

YOUNG RED PINE GROWING AMONG SUGAR MAPLES AND ASPEN

...NEEDLES TWO IN A BUNDLE, 5"-6" LONG

MATURE RED PINE, STATELY, WITH ROUNDED CROWN

CONES ABOUT 2" LONG, SINGLE OR IN PAIRS

Thursday,  9:30 AM.  42 degrees F at the ferry dock, 38 on the back porch.  Wind variable and calm.  The sky has a high overcast and it is drizzling rain, of which we had a trace last night.  The humidity is 93%, and the barometer is 29.31" and falling.  It will be a rainy day.

   Red pine is one of the native pines of the far north, growing in nature from Labrador in the northeast of North America into New England and south into the eastern mountains, and west around the Great Lakes.  It grows naturally on sandy ridges and droughty soils, whereas white pine occupies mostly moister sites, although the two species often grow together in sites both can tolerate.

   Red pine is a major timber tree, and can be a good landscape subject in northern climates, and where there is room for it to grow.  At maturity the red pine is quite formal in overall appearance, whereas the white pine can become very irregular and picturesque.

   The white pine has needles in bundles of five, the red pine needles in bundles of two.  The cones of the two species are quite dissimilar, the white pine long and slender, the red pine short and ovoid.

   The red pine is not a tree to be used without a great deal of thought, and probably not much outside its northern habitat, but in conjunction with other native conifers and deciduous trees it can be the backbone of the larger northern landscape.