As its name indicates this pine tree is native to the Canary Islands (located quite a bit south of Spain off the coast of southern Morocco). It is also widely planted in Southern Spain as an ornamental tree and as a tree used to repopulate deforested areas.
The clusters of male cones that grow on the ends of the branches make for an interesting "tree flower". Latter the new pine needles grow out of the top of these clusters looking like little green hats. If you shake the branches at this stage an amazing amount of pollen is released.
The long needles hanging down off of the upward pointing branches give this pine tree a distictive appearance.
i am interested in planting some canary pines in my yard. i live in the desert southwest. the only thing i am worried about is the root system of this tree. does anyone know if the roots spread out or grow down. please advise. i do not want these things to infest my plumbing like the cypris i cut down
ReplyDeletethank you.
This reply is about 4 years late and I hope you have not planted these trees. Their root systems are extremly invasive. Our whole street is lined with these trees which were planted about 40 years ago. The roots have buckled our sidewalks up and down the whole street. My neighbors complain endlessly about the fallen needles and the pollen can wreak havoc with those who are allergy prone.
DeleteCanary Pine, you can kiss my ARSE!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, why are you so uniformly distributed yet have a moderate correlation between breadth at breast height and distance to nearest neighbout? you've totally messed up my conclusions in my report I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY CANARY PINE!!!
I have two beautiful 80-90 ft. Canary Island pines in my back yard. I just noticed that one has about 10 feet of dead branches at the top? I don't know why but can anything be done about the beatles that I've heard attack them?
ReplyDeleteWendy
I live in the Indian wells valley. It freezes here - 9 Cel. which is I guess about 18 deg.F and goes as high as 119 deg. F. These trees have stayed alive for exactly forty years.
DeleteSave our Tree's!!
ReplyDeleteOur neighbor has 3 beautiful Canary Island Pines trees in her yard. Since moving in, she is threatening to cut these majestic 200 foot trees to the ground. We live in the Oakland Hills in Northern California. Is it true these trees are rare and protected? How long do they live? John
I live in southern California in the Los Angeles South Bay area. We have Canary Island pine trees "everywhere". They thrive here and their root systems do not tear up the sidewalks or streets like other shade trees do. They grow fast. Every business park in this area is heavily planted with them. They are gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteI have been able to grow three of these canary pines from seeds; I started over a year ago. Today they are at least 2 ft tall. Still fragile, but growing. I live in Kansas City and am wondering how the mid west heat and later cold winters will effect these wonders. I kept them in the garage under a grow light the last two winters, but now they are outside in their individual gallon containers. They are supported with bamboo rods for now.
ReplyDeleteAny directions or suggestions? I am hesitating to plant them in the ground just yet, until I get an answer about this location.
Barbara, I think that your concerns are quite valid. The Canary Island PIne is native to a very mild climate region where it is not exposed to either very hot or very cold conditions. I´ve never seen this tree growing in regions that have cold winters so I suspect that it does not tolerate freezing temps well.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone tried growing Canary Pines indoors? I live in Finland (Thus impossible growing outdoors)and i'm so interested in these wondrous plants!
ReplyDeleteTo Vili
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would be advisable since they do require lots of sun and are happy in warm environments.
I live in SoCalifornia and they grow like weeds here. I got mad at 3 of mine a few years back, and cut them down to nubbins. They grew back in
two years time and are now at the height I cut them down, only they look prettier than they did.
Sun and warminess is not exactly a problem. Just wondering if it could survive in dry indoor air.
ReplyDeleteIt can be grown indoors, but needs lots of light (south-facing window), and regular swaying the plant to stimulate it to produce stem thickness (done by wind outdoors; if you don't do this, it'll get very thin and spindly). It'll also get too large for most rooms in just a few years.
ReplyDeleteI live in Burbank and my tree is over 90feet tall after 20 years. In a good year it puts on another 5 feet. In a drought year very little. It likes the river bottom loam soil. The water table is down about 50 feet, so the tap root gets the city well water. No problem with surface roots. It is the highest landmark in blocks. It is turning into a monster, the way it keep growing.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 trees with green pince cones on the ground (we have cockatoos here that bombard all the cone trees for food), I popped one in the oven for 30 mins to open it up and i got abt 30 seeds out of a very hot cone. now - i have read a lot of things about scarification and stratification etc...my seeds are a pale wood color...do i need to put them in the freezer for 6 months or any other such or can I just dry them out for a few days and plant them ? Pleased to hear anyone who has succesfully done this. It is end summer now in australia so this is the season i have.
ReplyDeletePlsd to hear - Ema