# Virginia Pine (Pinus virginiana)

> Virginia pine, Pinus virginiana: a medium tree of 15 to 80 feet for zones 4 to 8, how far from a house to plant it, 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/virginia-pine/

![Virginia pines with irregular, open crowns standing among bare hardwood trees under a blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/virginia-pine-1000.jpg?v=0f9d4644 "Virginia pines among bare hardwoods in Pennsylvania on November 21, 2017. The cones mature from late September to early November, and the seed is shed within three months.")
*Photo: SusquehannaMan, [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AA_strand_of_adult_Virginia_pine_(Pinus_virginiana)_trees_in_Pennsylvania.jpg))*

Medium tree, 15 to 80 feet, zones 4 to 8; full sun; dry or average ground.

We do not grow Virginia 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 | Virginia Pine |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Jersey pine, possum pine, poverty pine |
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 15 to 80 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 35 |
| Zones | 4 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Pollen | March to May |
| Fruit | Cones, September to December |
| First crop | About 5 years (open-grown trees; up to 50 in dense stands) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and mostly takes pollen from other pines, though a lone tree can set some seed with its own. |
| Lifespan | Lives up to 200 years, and the oldest dated one reached 126. 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 | The Appalachians, dry uplands, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 17 states and the District of Columbia |

Virginia pine is native in 17 states and the District of Columbia: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [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), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [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), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) 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 [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=virginia-pine): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=virginia-pine): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=virginia-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=virginia-pine): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=virginia-pine): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=virginia-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=virginia-pine): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=virginia-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=virginia-pine): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=virginia-pine): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=virginia-pine): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Chestnut Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chestnut-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus montana*): medium tree, 50 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares the Appalachians and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Shingle Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shingle-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus imbricaria*): medium tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Sassafras](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sassafras/index.html.md) (*Sassafras albidum*): medium tree, 30 to 60 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus rubra*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares dry uplands, old fields and edges 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 dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Winged Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/winged-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus alata*): medium tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 6 to 9. Shares dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Every companion of Virginia pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=virginia-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, UF/IFAS Extension, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service and Virginia Tech's dendrology site.