The Swiss Stone Pine is a rare but increasingly popular tree here in Southern Minnesota. It is also very expensive at local tree nurseries. It has become my favorite evergreen tree to plant in my woods. First a note about spruce and fir tree decline here in Minnesota.

I have planted over 100 Fir and Spruce trees. The trees included Fraser Fir, Balsam Fir, White Spruce and Norway Spruce. They are generally fast growing trees and attractive. However they all are susceptible to needle drop with the Norway Spruce being a little less susceptible. Drive around and you can see many trees with bare lower branches or dead altogether. As I understand it the needle drop is caused by a fungus and sheltered trees fare worse. Trees in the open with good prevailing winds do better at resisting needle drop. Below are a couple pictures of Fir/Spruce with the bare branches.

Certainly we can’t give up completely on Spruce and Firs. They provide superior cover for animals in the woods. I will continue to plant Norway Spruce and be aware of their location to provide plenty of ventilation of the internal structure of the tree. So for many area’s we are left with pine trees such at red pine, white pine, and of course Swiss Stone Pine. Red pine don’t provide the cover for animals like other evergreens. White pines provide better cover, are beautiful, but do have some disease concerns. Swiss Stone pines provide good cover, are unique in their needle bunching and don’t have any disease concerns. The only drawback they have is that they are slow growing and expensive. Now onto details about the Swiss Stone Pine.

The above Swiss Stone Pine is about 6 years old and 7 – 8 feet tall. Notice the good green color for mid-December in Minnesota. Also notice the texture quality of the needles and branches. Being a white pine the Swiss Stone Pine has clusters of 5 needles per fascicles which gives them a more full textured look. (above is a closeup of the needles) Another feature is that as they get older their pine cones contain edible pine nuts. Swiss Stone Pines as the name implies come from Europe – Switzerland in particular but grow throughout the Alps. They are very cold hardy good for zone 3 and above. My brother and sister-in-law have a mature Swiss Stone Pine in their yard which is pictured below. It is between 17 and 20 years old and about 24 feet tall. So about one foot per year of growth.

There are a number of Swiss Stone cultivars available to fit any landscape need. Below is one in my yard that is a more columnar shape. That’s my dog Jack in the picture.

Now a 3-4 foot Swiss Stone Pine costs around $225-$300 at commercial nurseries. So I have purchased small one year old pines from Evergreen Nursery in Wisconsin. Save a lot of money but have to wait a while to get a nice tree. Below are a couple pictures of one year or two year Pines. As you can see they need protection from the area deer and rabbits.

One last interesting note. You can buy Swiss Stone Pine tree seeds online and germinate yourself. I would advise against trying that. I have tried twice and am 0-40 in getting any seeds to grow. And more interesting a commercial nursery Evergreen Nursery has had 2 seasons of crop failure over the past 4 years I have been buying from them. Unfortunately I have never seen smaller 1-2 foot pines at nurseries.