# Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata)

> Monterey pine, Pinus radiata: a large tree of 50 to 100 feet where planted, for zones 7 to 10, 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/monterey-pine/

![Monterey pines growing on the edge of eroded sandstone cliffs under a deep blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/monterey-pine-1000.jpg?v=5bf86fc3 "Monterey pines growing wild on coastal cliffs at Año Nuevo State Reserve, San Mateo County, California, on March 6, 2008. It rarely lives beyond 150 years.")
*Photo: Brocken Inaglory, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APinus_radiata_A%C3%B1o_Nuevo.jpg))*

Large tree, 50 to 100 feet where planted, zones 7 to 10; full sun or part shade; average ground.

We do not grow Monterey 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 | Monterey Pine |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Insignis pine, radiata pine, Cambria pine, Guadalupe Island pine, Cedros Island pine |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 50 to 100 where planted; up to 125 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 35 |
| Zones | 7 to 10 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Average ground |
| Growth | Fast |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, hedge or screen, erosion control |
| Pollen | December to April |
| Fruit | Cones, November to April |
| First crop | 5 to 10 years (good crops from 15 to 20 in the open) |
| 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 80 to 90 years and can live up to 150. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | The coast and rich moist slopes |
| Native in | 1 state |

Monterey pine is native in 1 state: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and the Fire Effects Information System.

## What our tools say

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

## For the same ground, we grow

- [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 Monterey pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=monterey-pine)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the USDA PLANTS Database, the Wildflower Center, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Calscape, the Jepson eFlora and the Gymnosperm Database.