Mexican weeping pine-Pinus patula is one of a very few conifers I own. I know little about it but it seems quite happy nonetheless. I like it's weeping habit compared to our more common native forms. I understand they're rather striking with age. Cheers, LPN.
Tender in the north. Likes places like the watered lawns at the California capital in Sacramento. You might get a better specimen if you pruned it to a single stem and mulched it.
I have to admit I'd have trouble taking even a single branch off any specimen of that plant. Besides, you're right; its form does have a certain charm, and is a refreshing change. On the other hand, might it be in danger of splitting as the weight of the two trunks increases?
Nice to see it growing on the island: I've started about a dozen from seed this year, and they're coming along....often used as a bonsai specimen...AKA "Ocote Macho"....supposed to be one the fastest growing pines in the world.
This is actually two trees that I didn't want to separate at planting time (see pic). They've been planted for about 3 years and started about a foot tall. Now the tallest point is 4' 9". I wonder if some supplimental watering during the recent hot dry spell will help or should I just leave them alone? I've rarely watered in the past. There was some mulch originally but it seems to have composted or been obliterated by the mower.
I'd say the risk of splitting is very low. Watering would be a good idea, the region of Mexico it comes from gets a summer monsoon and dry winters. Unfortunately, the latter is likely to be your biggest problem - it isn't adapted to cope with winter waterlogging, or heavy snow. Root rot is a common problem, as is snow break, with this species when grown in temperate sub-mediterranean climates.
Thanks Micheal F, Fortunately I have the best natural drainage possible and waterlogging is definatly not a worry. We do however get periodic wet snow which is like wet cement. Kind of like throwing a bucket of wet paper mache over a plant. I'll watch the growth structure as it matures looking for signs of instability. Cheers, LPN.
Pinus patula, one of three pines on the list of Hawaiis Most Invasive Horticultural Plants. For those in Zones 8a or below, I was advised that an alternative is P. yunnanensis, which is reportedly hardy to Zone 6. Jacobson, in North American Landscape Trees, writes that [a] much hardier very close cousin is P. greggii, which Esveld lists as mostly hardy. LPN, those trees look fabulous, like a work of art. However, as painful as it may be, I would follow Rons advice. Perhaps during the holiday season, you could make a wreath . Otherwise, wouldnt the weight of the branch structure of the one on the right make it lean more to the right with time, thus making for a strange picture?
True that P. greggii is closely related and much hardier, but it doesn't have pendulous foliage - visually, P. greggii is more like a rather thin P. radiata, nothing like as elegant as P. patula. P. yunnanensis is a much coarser tree, too, and the hardier selections from Sichuan (which are suspected of being natural hybrids with P. densata) are again, not very pendulous. One other that might be worth investigating is P. lumholtzii from its northernmost, highest altitude origins in central Chihuahua; they should be about as hardy as P. greggii, certainly zone 8. But getting viable seed seems to be very difficult.
