# Western White Pine (Pinus monticola)

> Western white pine, Pinus monticola: its height and zones, when it sheds pollen and bears cones, 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/western-white-pine/

![A large western white pine with a tall, open crown on a grassy mountain slope under a blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/western-white-pine-1000.jpg?v=d2678828 "A large western white pine east of Lake George in the eastern Sierra Nevada, California, on July 15, 2011. Trees are commonly 300 to 400 years old.")
*Photo: Dcrjsr, [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALarge_Pinus_monticola_far_Lake_George.jpg))*

Large tree, 40 to 100 feet where planted, zones 3 to 8; full sun or part shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow western white 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 | Western White Pine |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Mountain white pine, Idaho white pine, silver pine |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 40 to 100 where planted; up to 239 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 25 |
| Zones | 3 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Fast |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, hedge or screen |
| Pollen | June to July |
| Fruit | Cones, August to October |
| First crop | 7 years (frequent and abundant from about 70) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen. Most trees resist their own pollen, and seedlings of a tree's own pollen grow more slowly. |
| Lifespan | Typically lives 300 to 400 years, and the oldest dated one reached 707. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Planting season | Spring. Silvics finds bare-root seedlings survive better planted in spring, while container seedlings do well in either season. Fall plantings grew less in height, the Fire Effects Information System reports. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Rich moist slopes, floodplain forests and stream banks |
| Native in | 6 states |

Western white pine is native in 6 states: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) and [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA). 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 the Gymnosperm Database. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT), 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=western-white-pine): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=western-white-pine): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=western-white-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=western-white-pine): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=western-white-pine): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=western-white-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=western-white-pine): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=western-white-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=western-white-pine): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=western-white-pine): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=western-white-pine): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [American Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus americana*): large tree, 60 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares floodplain forests and stream banks in the wild.
- [Balsam Poplar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/balsam-poplar/index.html.md) (*Populus balsamifera*): large tree, 30 to 100 feet, zones 2 to 5. Shares floodplain forests and stream banks in the wild.
- [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix amygdaloides*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares floodplain forests and stream banks in the wild.
- [Bur Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bur-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus macrocarpa*): large tree, 60 to 80 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares floodplain forests in the wild.
- [Black Cherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-cherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus serotina*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [Every companion of western white pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=western-white-pine)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the Wildflower Center, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Calscape, the Jepson eFlora, the Gymnosperm Database, Utah State University Extension, NC State Extension, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System and Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research.