Pinus lambertiana Seeds | Sugar Pine
LATIN NAME: Pinus lambertiana
COMMON NAME: Sugar Pine
Plant Profile
Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana) is an evergreen conifer. It likes sun, and deep, well-drained soil. Its open flowers are a reliable stop for bees and other pollinating visitors. The ratio of effort to reward here is about as good as gardening gets.
Science & Biotechnology
Seed science, comparative botany and horticultural selection all touch on Pinus lambertiana, a representative of the Pinus group with clear practical value. Giant cones and towering habit of sugar pine give it a recognised place in research on mountain timber pines of five-needle white pine group, and lambertiana species appears in studies of cone-biology conifers and seed food value. Centuries of cultivation have left a detailed record of how it grows and behaves.
Uses & Benefits
Gardeners value Sugar Pine for its ornamental character, and the plant also fits naturally into herb, vegetable and cutting gardens. In cool, open ground, sugar pine masts cool garden with towering crown. Enormous cones hang from upper branches, seeds feed birds and small mammals, and timber serves building and joinery for generations. It thrives in deep, well-drained, sunny ground. Given the right start, it carries on with minimal intervention.
Pines are a materia medica of their own: vitamin-C-rich needle teas saved explorers from scurvy, pine pollen is a tonic food in China, bark proanthocyanidins are studied for circulation, and resin gave turpentine, rosin and naval stores to history.
Growing from Seed
Raising Sugar Pine from seed is straightforward. Scatter the seed evenly over a loose seed compost, cover to no more than its own depth, and keep the pot moist and bright. Prick the seedlings out once they are large enough to handle, grow them on in bright light, and plant out when conditions allow.
Our Take
Sugar Pine has real presence in the garden without demanding much in return. Keep the sowing evenly moist at the start — that is the one real requirement.
Related Reading
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