Pinus ponderosa

Pinus ponderosa is the famous Ponderosa pine, a large conifer native to BC and western North America. It has a conical form growing form 60-125 feet tall and 25-30 feet wide with a trunk that can be four feet wide. Trees are very long lived, up to 600 years. Its bark is easily identified with scaly, orange-red plates separated by black crevices. On a hot day the bark smells like vanilla. The cones are ovate and purple becoming more brown and spherical as they dry, growing upright but turn upside down at maturity. The long needles are dark yellow-green to blue-green in bundles of three and concentrated in tufts at the branch tips. Enjoys average to medium moisture in well-drained, sandy to gravely loams in full sun but is tolerant of dry conditions. Valued in the landscape for its impressive upright habit and stately form. Use as a specimen, screen or windbreak. Ideal in parks. A larval host for butterflies and moths. Photo: Wikimedia.