Virginia Pine | Live Trees | Scrub Spruce Pine | Pinus Virginiana

Pinus virginiana, the Virginia pine, scrub pine, Jersey pine, Possum pine, is a medium-sized tree that grows best in sites with full sun, well-drained soil, and sandy acidic loam. It has a slow growth rate and is moderately pollution tolerant for a pine. It will grow in poor, dry soils, including clay soils. The Virginia Pine also known as the Scrub or Jersey Pine, is a medium-sized, robust conifer found throughout Appalachia from Alabama east to South Carolina, and north to Pennsylvania. Typically, this species grows in the poor soils of mountain ridges and rocky outcroppings, rugged hillsides, and dry forest lands. Size is variable, as the tree is reported to grow between 18 and 60 feet tall with a spread of 15 to 40 feet. However, they can certainly be pruned to maintain a smaller size in the garden. Often, it sports gnarled or twisted trunks and branches giving the tree a lot of character and architectural interest. The Virginia Pine is best grown in average to dry, acidic, well-drained soils, which can include rocky and sandy soils, as well as drier clay or loam soils. Generally, poorer and infertile soils are best, although they can grow in fertile soil that is not overly rich with organic matter. Its needles are short, twisted, and come in fascicles, the botanical term for a bundle of leaves. Its seeded cones are seen throughout the tree and can stay on the tree for five years before dropping.