Description
CANADA ORDERS ONLY.
A gorgeous pine from the US southwest with incredibly long (20-35 cm) bright blue-green needles usually arranged in bundles of 3, but bundles of 4 and 5 have been noted. Rough craggy bark of rich brown and cinnamon. Dense somewhat curved cones. Good cut test (+60%), manual seed extraction, heat to pop open cones is never used. Aka Arizona longleaf pine. When in their youth when the pine is small, it still has these incredibly long needles making it appear like a dense tuft of grass. It’s long needles is much sought after in basketry, but know that only use dry needles for a nice tight basket as green needles shrink and gives a saggy basket. Also can be used to obtain a lovely green dye.
Some years ago I spoke to one of the nurserymen at Piroche Plants where they had Pinus engelmannii growing in their fields in the Fraser Valley. It was doing poorly mainly due to heavy wet soils. This pine is found in its native region is grows at the 4500-9000 feet (1500-2700 m) where frost and snow is common, which lends to the idea it might be hardier than rated thus the (7?). Here is an interesting link to Denver Botanical Garden (elevation 5,280 ft) where they have several growing and list it as Zone 7. There are some nice pics.
- Seed Count: 12-15
- Collection Date: May 2018
- Hardiness Zone: (7?) 8-10
- Height and Width: 20m x 10m
- Germination test type: actual +75%
- Family: Pinaceae
How to germinate Pinus engelmanii seeds:
Briefly soak seed 8 hours. Place seed in a resealable bag with coarse barely moist medium (coconut coir, fine bark mulch, etc). Cold stratify in fridge at 4C for 15-30 days. Germinate at 22-25C. Germinates promptly (within 7 days). Use a well draining medium to grow (equal parts humus based medium and coarse sand). Never over water. We baggie sow ours in moist screened bark mulch and give cold stratification for 15 days then give gentle warmth. In 5 days we start pricking out germinating seedlings into a communal germination pot with medium amended beneficial mycorrhizae and give bright indirect light and warm conditions.
