White pine rules winter with majesty

With the leaves thoroughly whipped from the trees, the wind howls over the top of our ridge and whines through a single pine in the yard. On the most blustery days, a soft wind song that some people might consider eerie or lonesome plays through the air.

It’s a sound of fall and winter; a sound that could likely be heard in summer as well, if not lost in the cacophony created by living things in the leafy season.

In winter, with the scenery stripped of the more prominent ornamentals, our Maine landscape is dominated by a variety of evergreens. Despite the beauty of pointed firs, willowy hemlocks and stout cedars, the white pine rules the winter roost. Its majestic branches sway in the lightest breeze, and smooth and elegant tops rise to meet the most robust of winter weather.

The white pine is the tallest tree native to eastern North America. At maturity the evergreen may easily reach over 100 feet. Its native habitat range is quite extraordinary. Indigenous stock grows from as far west as Manitoba, east to the Atlantic, and south to Georgia.

Many people think of the white pine as a “friendly” pine. Compared with the prickly needles of the red, Austrian, or Scotch pine, the blue-green needles of white pine, Pinus strobus, are soft to the touch. In fact, it is the only “soft” pine native to the northeastern United States. Each fascicle, or bundle, of five needles will reach 2 to 5 inches. The needles droop downward and develop only at the ends of twigs. Hence they are often referred to as tassels.

Often in fall people will notice that their pines lose a significant number of needles. This is not because their plants are dying, but instead is a process of natural loss and replenishing of leaves. Pine needles generally fall after their second year.

In summer unripe green cones top the mighty trees. In two years the cones reach up to 8 inches in length, mature to a dark brown, and fall to the forest floor. The pine cone’s scales loosely overlap and look something like tiny shingles carefully laid around a central stem. Each scale protects a pine seed.

White pine grows most easily from seed in disturbed or dry sites. Areas made open by fire or logging are the places most easily populated with the native beauty. White pine prefers good soil, but is fairly accepting of dry or wet conditions. Grown in full sun or in slight shade, this evergreen is fairly trouble-free. Specimens may be grown from seed sown in fall, native seedlings dug and replanted to a similar microenvironment, or trees purchased at a nursery and transplanted with a soil ball in fall or spring.

Naturally, pine has a critical historical and present-day significance here in Maine. Stories from old logging camps tell of pines so large two oxen could stand on their trunks. Although the mightiest of today’s pines only hint of that, the pine’s economic impact is still measurable.

In other parts of the country, white pine has its own legends and historical uses. According to Guy Sternberg and Jim Wilson in “Landscaping With Native Trees,” “a tradition of early American settlers moving west was to plant `coffin pines’ at their new homes.

The native forests of the frontier were composed of hardwoods that could not be fashioned quickly into a coffin, so white pine from the East was used. A matched pair of pine trees was often planted for husband and wife. Many of the trees never served their intended purpose and still survive.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR1, Box 2120, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@ctel.net. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.