# Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis)

> Limber pine, Pinus flexilis: a medium tree of 30 to 60 feet where planted, for zones 3 to 7, 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/limber-pine/

![A lone limber pine with a broad, irregular crown on a grassy ridge, snowy peaks and clouds behind](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/limber-pine-1000.jpg?v=04fe837b "A limber pine on Mount Everts in Yellowstone National Park on May 13, 2018. One cross-dated in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah was 1,697 years old when sampled.")
*Photo: Jacob W. Frank, National Park Service, [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALimber_Pine_on_Mount_Everts_%2827440000397%29.jpg) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALimber_Pine_on_Mount_Everts_%2827440000397%29.jpg))*

Medium tree, 30 to 60 feet where planted, zones 3 to 7; full sun or part shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow limber 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 | Limber Pine |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Rocky Mountain white pine, limbertwig, limbertwig pine, Rocky Mountain pine |
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 30 to 60 where planted; up to 92 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 40 |
| Zones | 3 to 7 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, edible, erosion control |
| Pollen | June to July |
| Fruit | Cones, August to October |
| First crop | 20 to 40 years |
| 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 | The oldest tree dated by its rings reached 1,697 years. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on limber pine marks it as one that does not transplant well. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Rocky ground and dry uplands |
| Native in | 13 states |

Limber pine is native in 13 states: [Arizona](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AZ), [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT) and [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from the Fire Effects Information System, Silvics of North America and the Gymnosperm Database.

## What our tools say

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

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Hop Hornbeam](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hop-hornbeam/index.html.md) (*Ostrya virginiana*): medium tree, 25 to 40 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares rocky ground and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Western Soapberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/western-soapberry/index.html.md) (*Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii*): medium tree, 20 to 50 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares rocky ground and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Eastern Red Cedar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-red-cedar/index.html.md) (*Juniperus virginiana*): medium tree, 30 to 50 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares rocky ground and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Chinquapin Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chinquapin-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus muehlenbergii*): medium tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares rocky ground and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Common Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/index.html.md) (*Celtis occidentalis*): large tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares rocky ground and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Rock Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/rock-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus thomasii*): large tree, 70 to 90 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares rocky ground and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Every companion of limber pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=limber-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, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Calscape, the Jepson eFlora, the Gymnosperm Database, Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research and the International Tree-Ring Data Bank.