Pinus strobus 'HILLSIDE WINTER GOLD'

White (Weymouth) pines are very popular for their soft needles which you want to touch over and over again. They are usually long, silvery blue-green and come in whorls of 5. Trees of this pine can be large and dwarf, wide or columnar. Pine trees with yellow needles are quite popular in trade, especially those which do not look sick bearing this unusual colour. And Hillside Winter Gold is undoubtedly healthy from every view. You can find it listed as only Winter Gold or even Helen (formerly).

Hillside Winter Gold is a 1970's white pine achievement for the Hillside Nursery from Lehighton in Pennsylvania, USA. They already introduced a few other white pine varieties e.g. Globosa, Hillside Gem, Hillside Weeper, and Millstream. This one is appreciated for its rich, deep golden, almost orange colour of needles from late autumn until mid spring. They are 8-10 cm long, and grow in whorls of 5.

It grows fast into a tall, broadly pyramidal tree, becoming broadly columnar with age. Its natural habit can be thin and somewhat leggy, however, if you spend a little bit of time on it every spring it can develop into a superb and immensely beautiful conifer - just prune all new shoots (so called candles) by a half in May. It will get much denser and will remain shorter which will enable you growing it in a small garden, too.

Pines like sunny locations and well-drained, sandy soil, they usually do not require fertilizing unless they suffer from chlorosis in which case magnesium and ferrum-based agents should be used. They are practically maintenance-free. Extremely hardy to about -40°C (USDA 3).

Last update 10-09-2018