Tis the Season… Already???

It’s a wonder I don’t run off the road. Seriously. I used to make fun of people like me. You know those people… the ones who are driving forward but looking sideways. Ohhh, I’m so embarrassed to admit I’ve become even  slightly like that… but I have. And it’s so much fun! All it takes is driving a little bit slower so you can look around. Oh my goodness… I did not just say that did I? I’ve become my mother. Shoot me, shoot me now. Hot flashes I was prepared for… becoming my mother… Noooooooo. All kidding aside, I’ve been driving slower and rubber-necking it because I’m looking for a very specific item. And I want to find some good specimens because before you know it, spring will be here and I want to be ready.

What am I looking for you ask? Why, Eastern White Pine of course. If you look along the sides of the highways all over New Brunswick you’ll see lots of little white pine growing with abandon. I’m looking for just the right size, of course… and a DOT friend of mine told me a while ago, that as long as I stayed within the guidelines, I could dig a few of these roadside goodies up. So I’m mentally tagging them for spring “dig-up”. If you are totally unenlightened about our Eastern White Pine, then let me enlighten you.

Eastern white pine (or white pine) is a truly magnificent tree attaining a height of 80 feet or more at maturity with a diameter of two to three feet. Needles are soft, flexible and bluish-green to silver green in color and are arrayed in bundles of five. Needles are 2 1/2-5 inches long and usually shed at the end of the second growing season. Cones are 4-8 inches in length, mature at the end of the second season, are fairly thin and have a fragrant gummy resin. Bark on young trunks and branches is smooth but on older trunks the bark becomes dark gray and crackly.

White pine is found on dry rocky ridges and wet sphagnum bogs, but best growth is in moist sandy loam soils. It is susceptible to white pine blister rust disease but the pine weevil is also a major insect pest which deforms trees by killing the terminal shoots (new shoot growth). Needle retention is good which makes it a good Christmas tree if not pruned too frequently and additionally, white pine has very little aroma which results in fewer allergic reactions than do some of the more aromatic species. To produce a 6-foot tree requires 6-8 years growth on good sites. Propagation is mainly by seed which needs a period of cold to break dormancy, but it does graft quite easily. Interestingly enough, early native Indians used the inner bark as food, while colonists later used the inner bark as an ingredient in cough remedies. Seeds are eaten by red squirrels, birds such as red crossbills, pine siskins, chickadees and songbirds, so having a few in your backyard encourages bird habitat… and That is something I plan on… for next year… if I don’t kill myself first, looking for them.

~Callie

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