A native we do not grow
Sugar Pine
Pinus lambertiana. Large tree, 90 feet where planted, zones 6 to 8; full sun or part shade; dry or average ground.
We do not grow sugar 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
| Other names | California sugar pine, great sugar pine |
|---|---|
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 90 where planted; up to 274 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 50 |
| Zones | 6 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Fast |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, erosion control |
| Pollen | May to August |
| Fruit | Cones, August to October |
| First crop | 40 to 80 years (good crops from about 150) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen; pines standing alone tend to set less seed than pines in a group. |
| Lifespan | Can live 614 years, and the oldest dated one reached 435. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Rich moist slopes and rocky ground |
| Native in | 3 states |
Sugar pine is native in 3 states: California, Nevada and Oregon. The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America, the Fire Effects Information System and Oregon State University.
What our tools say
How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil How far from a house, wires and a septic field What grows with it in the wild and in a yard When to plant it where you live When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month How to sow its seed, with dates for your place How many to plant for a crop of seed Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes How old one is, from its trunk How a big one scores against the champion trees
For the same ground, we grow
These trees we grow share the most of sugar pine's natural communities in the wild, by the companion species tool's rules.
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, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Calscape, the Wildflower Center and the Gymnosperm Database.