# Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)

> Eastern white pine, Pinus strobus: its height and zones, when it sheds pollen and bears cones, how fast it grows, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/eastern-white-pine/

![Layered, wind-swept crown of an old eastern white pine with long branches reaching out against a pale sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/eastern-white-pine-1000.jpg?v=1b0c1164 "The wind-shaped crown of an eastern white pine on South Point Island, Killarney, Ontario, on September 15, 2018. Its cones ripen in August and September of their second year.")
*Photo: Ryan Hodnett, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AEastern_White_Pine_(Pinus_strobus)_-_Killarney%2C_Ontario_02.jpg))*

Large tree, 50 to 100 feet, zones 3 to 8; full sun, part shade or shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow eastern white pine, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Eastern White Pine |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Weymouth pine, northern white pine, soft pine |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 50 to 100 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 40 |
| Zones | 3 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Fast |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, hedge or screen, erosion control |
| Pollen | April to June |
| Fruit | Cones, August to September |
| First crop | 5 to 10 years (good seed crops from 20 to 30) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen, but a lone pine tends to set less seed than pines in a group. |
| Lifespan | Can live 486 years, and the oldest dated one reached 408. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on eastern white pine says: "Eastern white pine is easily transplanted, quick to establish and regain rapid growth." |
| Black walnut | Sensitive, on the Morton Arboretum's list as “white pine”, though Silvics of North America says it can grow in competition with black walnut |
| Ground | Sandy barrens, the Appalachians, rich moist slopes, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 25 states and the District of Columbia |

Eastern white pine is native in 25 states and the District of Columbia: [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR) and [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=eastern-white-pine): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=eastern-white-pine:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Clammy Locust](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/clammy-locust/index.html.md) (*Robinia viscosa*): small tree, 30 to 40 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares sandy barrens, the Appalachians, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Northern Red Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/northern-red-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus rubra*): large tree, 50 to 75 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares the Appalachians and rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [American Beech](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-beech/index.html.md) (*Fagus grandifolia*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares the Appalachians and rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [Black Cherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-cherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus serotina*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares rich moist slopes, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Eastern Hemlock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-hemlock/index.html.md) (*Tsuga canadensis*): large tree, 40 to 100 feet, zones 3 to 7. Shares the Appalachians and rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [Red Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-hickory/index.html.md) (*Carya ovalis*): large tree, 60 to 100 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares the Appalachians and rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [Every companion of eastern white pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=eastern-white-pine)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service, Ontario's Old Growth Forests and Virginia Tech's dendrology site.