# Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreyi)

> Jeffrey pine, Pinus jeffreyi: a large tree of 90 feet where planted, for zones 5 to 9, 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/jeffrey-pine/

![An open stand of Jeffrey pines on pale pumice ground, with Mono Lake and hills behind](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/jeffrey-pine-1000.jpg?v=421e4454 "Jeffrey pines near Mono Mills, south of Mono Lake in Mono County, California, on April 7, 2018. Trees often live 400 or 500 years.")
*Photo: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APinus_jeffreyi_Sosna_Jeffreya_2018-04-07_Mono_Lake_05.jpg))*

Large tree, 90 feet where planted, zones 5 to 9; full sun or part shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow Jeffrey 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 | Jeffrey Pine |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Truckee pine, sapwood pine |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 90 where planted; up to 207 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 30 |
| Zones | 5 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Pollen | May to July |
| Fruit | Cones, August to October |
| First crop | 8 years (cones common from about 20) |
| 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 | Usually lives 400 to 500 years and can live 663, and the oldest dated one was at least 661. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Planting season | Spring. Silvics plants dormant nursery seedlings at the onset of spring, once the soil warms enough for the roots to take up water, and before the last spring rain. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Dry uplands and rocky ground |
| Native in | 3 states |

Jeffrey pine is native in 3 states: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV) and [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America, the Fire Effects Information System, the Jepson eFlora and NC State Extension.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=jeffrey-pine): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=jeffrey-pine): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=jeffrey-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=jeffrey-pine): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=jeffrey-pine): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=jeffrey-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=jeffrey-pine): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=jeffrey-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=jeffrey-pine): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=jeffrey-pine): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=jeffrey-pine): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares rocky ground in the wild.
- [More natives for this ground in the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=large-tree&sun=full&moisture=average)
- [Every companion of Jeffrey pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=jeffrey-pine)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Wildflower Center, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Calscape, the Jepson eFlora, the Gymnosperm Database, NC State Extension, the US Forest Service and the International Tree-Ring Data Bank.