Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to talk about potted pines. You may remember me from such posts as “A Jar Of Ants”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
It’s been raining all around us; the guy I live with said there’s been flooding in some parts of the state, but all we’ve been getting is a few raindrops every afternoon or evening.
We’d just as soon not have flooding but some of that rain would be nice.
Anyway, time to talk about potted pines. I promise this is the last post on potted plants, because we already showed hens and chicks in pots a while ago.
You can grow dwarf conifers in pots, if they’re native, and if they come from cold-winter climates.
This is Pinus flexilis ‘Saunny’, named after the wife of the late Jerry Morris.
The guy I live with said that some years ago, nursery people wondered why trees and shrubs in containers were often killed during cold winters, and so a study was done, maybe by hooking up electrodes to the roots or something, and it was found that the roots of most trees are not very hardy. There wasn’t enough soil in the nursery pots to protect the trees and shrubs from being killed.
The roots of the saucer magnolia (Magnolia soulangeana) for instance, are only hardy to +25F (-3.8C), so if this were growing in a pot, even a really big pot, it would be done in by a cold winter.
The large volume of soil insulates the roots when the magnolia is growing in the ground.
Well, the roots of the limber pine (Pinus flexilis) are hardy to -79F (-61.6C).
The guy I live with says that is cold.
Blue spruce (Picea pungens) roots are even hardier.
Obviously there are no issues with growing cold-hardy native conifers, in pots, even when the soil-less mix (which is the same that he uses for cactus) freezes solid.
Growing dwarf conifers in pots keeps them smaller than if they were planted in the garden, though eventually the guy I live with may plant these in the garden, and then get more.
This is a limber pine, maybe ‘Damfino’, named after the creek in Colorado and Wyoming I think, and it has a cone.
This ponderosa pine, ‘Pennock Pass Pincushion’, will need to be repotted into a heavier pot before winter.
He got this earlier in spring.
This is a bristlecone, Pinus longaeva.
The guy I live with said he thought this was a dwarf one, but it isn’t, and he said it may outgrow its pot in a thousand years.
It’s very important to make sure these little conifers don’t dry out in the summer, so the guy I live with goes around with a watering can every few days.
The needles can be watered with a weak solution of Miracle Gro.
I hope you found this post at least moderately interesting.
I’ll leave you with a picture of me gazing at the sunlight in the field.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
‘Pennock Pass Pincushion’ stays less than two feet high and wide! (I had to look it up because it got my attention.) That is dinky for a species that is so grand.
It is dinky. The guy I live with said there’s another small ponderosa here that needs to be moved, which may not be successful.
There were four or five dwarf Pinus longaeva at the long-gone nursery of Jerrry Morris and the guy I live with is still kicking himself for not getting them.
By the way, the guy I live with certainly didn’t pay as much money as they want for that pincushion online. He got it at a rock garden chapter plant sale for about twenty dollars.
Gee, a common banana tree costs almost that much!
The guy I live with says there’s a member of the local rock garden chapter who grafts witches’ brooms, so they’re very inexpensive compared to what you might find online.
He probably does it more because he enjoys doing so than he enjoys making a profit.
Almost certainly.
You wrote: “at the long-gone nursery of Jerrry Morris and the guy I live with is still kicking himself for not getting them.”
Visited the Bethelehem Nursery of the late Dennis Dodge in CT several times prior to it’s closing. Also regret not picking up more mini and dwarf conifers from him even though I left my conifer collection in CT before we moved to NC. There is a nice article about Dennis by Tovah Martin at: https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/The-Little-Trees-of-Bethlehem-16862237.php
The guy I live with says that non-native conifers don’t survive here growing in pots or troughs, for some reason.
He bought a number of conifers from Coenosium and Porterhowse, but I think none of those survived.
The amount of rain in our NWDenver neighborhood has been beyond pitiful this July. I think the monsoons haven’t quite materialized…at least here. Fascinating post on potted pines. Thanks for sharing. Stay cool (if you can). Only 57 days until autumn officially arrives so we’re keeping our attention on the countdown.
Thanks, and you’re welcome.
When the guy I live with and his wife visited Jerry Morris’s nursery he was stunned to see all the conifers growing in wooden trays and left outside all year. He said he could have had a sort of Japanese garden but filled with conifers in pots and trays.
The guy I live with also said most of the rain is falling around Colorado Springs and south of there, and maybe you read about the 1.5 inches of rain that fell in 29 minutes in Aurora the other day.
That’s a bit much, really, but more rain would be nice.
Except for today, we’ve had about fifty drops of rain every day.
It just seems to rain everywhere but on my block. But I am grateful there hasn’t been any hail so I guess I’ll just count my blessings and leave it at that.
The guy I live with says if you look at radar, which you probably have, it’s like there’s a blank on a west-east line running through Denver, until you get out on the plains, and then there are big storms.
We haven’t had any hail since 2018. There used to be a time, say starting in about 1990, where everyone freaked out about hail, but now it’s not something you hear about in the metro area.
Here’s something weird. The guy I live with’s mom died in 2018, and when the house went on the market there had been no hail claims on the roof since his mom moved into that house in 1961.
Of course there had been hail, but nothing bad.
In fact the guy I live with had never seen bad hail until the “big one” on July 11, 1990. He was working outside on that day and thought he was a goner.
Plants from Fincham’s Coenosium nursery, when he was located in New Jersery, provided the backbones of my conifer collection in CT. Dodge had species from out West, along with few plants that were grown from irradiated seeds, IIRC, sourced from Germany. Weird stuff.
The guy I live with talked to Bob on the phone, back when people did that, a couple of times.
He said they talked about Jerry, too.
Thank you! This post opens up a world of new possibilities for my neglected front garden. Dwarf pines! In pots! Who knew? Mani, the guy you live with is brilliant!
Thanks; I think he would agree, though he can’t take credit for this.
I know this post is lacking the charm and insight of being narrated by purebred border collies, but take a look at the post “Trio To Jerry’s Nursery”.
That’s when the guy I live with first realized this was possible.
Interesting re: root hardiness. I can attest to White Spruce being super hardy in containers. I had a small little seedling in a 10″ pot for a couple of years in the shade of a golden willow. It came back year after year. I finally took pity and gave it to a friend to bonsai. You look a lot more relaxed Mani so the thunderstorms must have passed. We are still drowning in rain but after years of drought shouldn’t complain too much. It’s awfully green here.
Thanks; we haven’t had many thunderstorms right over us; the last good rain we had was eleven days ago.
The guy I live with said he had a list of a whole bunch of trees and the minimum temperature their roots would tolerate, but it could very well be on one of the many non-working laptops in this house. (He does know about recycling…)
Dwarf conifers do have a tendency to become very non-dwarf after many years, though they still retain their (I guess you might say) congested foliage, so growing them in pots tends to keep them smaller.
I grow quite a few conifers in pots. Eventually, they outgrow them. And, eventually, I plant them out in the garden or give them away. I also propagate a few of the easier ones by cuttings (juniper, chamaecyparis), but haven’t tried grafting conifers yet. Having to find rootstock is my primary limitation. All the best!
Thanks.
The guy I live with said that some conifers that had been in pots eventually went into the garden, and that usually happened because the pot cracked.
Most of the pots here are heavy glazed ones, but once or twice he bought pots that “looked good” but really weren’t.
There used to be places where you could buy understocks for grafting; maybe there still are.
This post was furry innterestin Mani!! There used to bee Pine Treess heer inn front where wee are. They were cut down 2014 BellaSita meowed to me. Shee still misses THE Piness(an Cedarss) alot! Yore potted Piness look so guud an strong!! If wee cuud send you rain; wee wuud. Wee have had enuff 😉
Love yore fotoss! You allwayss take guud ones….
**nose bopss** BellaDharma an (((hugss))) BellaSita Mum
Thanks. We could certainly use more rain. It seems like everyone to the north, south, and east of us is getting rain, but we aren’t.
Wee can not go outside today Mani! It iss so *HOT* an Hue-mid!!! Feelss like106 F deegreess…how due peeps an 4 leggedss an birdiess live inn such *hot*s placess?? If wee get rain; we point it inn yore dye-rection!
Thanks. It’s still raining all around us, every day.
Of course some of the rain we don’t want, because it’s been causing flooding, or large hail, out east.
It was really hot yesterday, but today, not so much at all.
I have been mulling this subject since its posting, and now understand it is *a sign* to purchase dwarf native pines currently on sale for 30% off at my local garden center. I take lots of things as signs to purchase plants and this is definitely one.
Possibly a good sign. Growing native conifers is a better idea for us, anyway, but gardeners in milder-winter climates can grow a lot of other dwarf conifers.