Pinus pumila

Botanical Name: Pinus pumila
Common Name: Japanese Stone Pine

Plant Hardiness: Zone 2

Flower: Not ornamentally significant

Bloom Time: Spring

Foliage: The blue green needles are close to 4 inches long, slightly curved and are 5 to a bundle. Gives quite a blue cast to the plant

Fruit: Cones are found along the stems, quite often in clusters

Habit: Most often seen as a large shrub since there is often no leader to form a tree. There is a lot of variation but most forms have horizontal branching and a wide spreading habit

Size: Usually wider than tall. May reach 9 feet tall by 16 feet wide under perfect conditions

Sun Exposure: Full sun

Native Habitat: Northeastern Asia and Japan

Other Features:

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Description

Description: Lud Hoffman gave me a Pinus pumila many years ago. I had never heard of it before, but since then it has become one of my favorite pines. It is a native of eastern Asia (another name for it is Dwarf Siberian Pine) and Japan. In all cases it is found in high mountain areas, in open and exposed places. Therefore, over the years it has evolved into a tree that does not grow a leader but rather grows more in a shrub form. The strain we grow has extremely glaucous needles that are twisted, similar to Pinus cembra or Pinus parviflora ‘Glauca’. It makes a spectacular tree (shrub) and becomes a focal point of any garden in which it is planted.

In the literature, I see quite a bit of variation as to the size a tree will attain. Ours, which is approximately 30 years old, is approximately 5 feet in height and 9 feet in diameter. Difficult to propagate, this plant will always be quite rare, but it is definitely a gem among semi-dwarf conifers.

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