They grow all over zone 7a/7b here I see them everywhere around the area. It can reach 100 to 105 degree here but it's fairly rare. Temps in the 90s are common every summer. I see very old ones also that are very tall planted probably 50-60+ years ago here.

The southern most natural range for Eastern White Pine is nothern GA in zone 7a/7b or AHS Heat Zone 7 which has a average of 61 to 90 days a year above 86°F. They can defiantly grow in Zone 7b/8a (AHS Heat Zone 8). Eastern white pine is rated to grow down to at least AHS Heat Zone 9 which is the same as the MS coast which is AHS Heat Zone 8/9.

So it should grow fine anywhere in MS, although they prefer a cooler climate, so a partly shaded area would likely be the preferred place in southern MS for a Eastern White Pine seedling.

They are a fast growing pine, very interesting looking, and also beautiful. Eastern white pine is my favorite pine followed by Longleaf Pine and Shortleaf Pine.

"They can defiantly grow in Zone ..."

How do they grow defiantly? By defying predictions that they'll keel over and die? ;-))

There are some other Asian white pines that might be more successful in MS heat, including P. wallichiana, P. armandii, P. bhutanica, P. wangii (syn. P. kwangtungensis), P. morrisonicola. Also worth trying P. chiapensis and P. ayacahuite from Mexico.

Resin

I'm afraid of anything Asian, Resin, because all our invasive species - and you haven't seen invasive until you've seen it here! - are from Asia. I've planted some Asian members of the laurel family, but that's only because of the trouble our natives are likely to have in the future, and I'd like to find some other host plants for spicebush and palamedes swallowtails, hopefully, that'll be resistant to the terrible laurel wilt thing. The Mexican white pine sounds very interesting, though.
I think I'll order a white pine or two and stick it in the mix, Treeguy. And from this point forward, I have to repeat what Vancleaveterry said - if I order any more trees, somebody please do an intervention! :)
Sherry

"How do they grow defiantly? By defying predictions that they'll keel over and die? ;-))"

How do they grow defiantly? Because they grow in central/southern Alabama. ;-) See the link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: AL Eastern White Pines County Distribution

Missherry,

Just b/c they're Asian doesn't have anything to do with invasive potential. In fact, the VAST majority of introduced Asian plants do not even reproduce naturally here. Here in FL some of the worst have come from Australia (Casuarina spp.)and Brazil (Schinus molle).

As to your question of white pines, I have noticed quite a few in rural southern GA and north FL as planted P. strobus. They look o.k., but not spectacular. I have also planted some P. wallichiana from Bhutan seed here in Gainesville, FL. SO far, they look o.k.

I just thought that Asian species might be overly well adapted to this area, salicaceae, since Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese privet, Japanese climbing fern, and (Asian) kudzu are the chokingly invasive non-native plants around here, plus think about how many of our typical suburban plants come from Asia - azaleas, ligustrum, Bradford pears, and the list goes on and on. I'm not suggesting that all Asian plants are invasive, just that all the invasive ones I see around here are Asian.
Anyway, I'll just start out with a pinus strobus or two and see what happens.
Sherry

I think an Eastern White Pine should do well in southern MS especially if it is planted near some other trees such as in partial shade on the northeastern side of some larger trees. Young White Pines are quite tolerant of half day shade while mature White Pines prefer a sunny location. And it should do even better if planted in some moist well draining rich soil as well.

It would likely be a whole different story though if you planted it on a drought stricken ridge top with full scorching sun in southern MS though. If it was planted like this it would most likely suffer, and either look poor or die. Also they won't grow or don't do good on heavy clay sites especially on alkaline soils and also can't tolerate sea salt spray or salts in the soil such as places right near the coast so it's also dependent on how far from the coast it is planted as well.

But it is true on average sites they can live well and look good with 100 to 105 degrees for at least several days and also tolerate about at to above 90 degrees for at least 120 days and high humidity typical of the southeast. They could also likely tolerate even more extremes and look very good in partial shade with good soil moisture and soil.
The counties in central/southern Alabama in the link below that have Eastern White Pines growing there are on average only 1 degree "cooler" in the summer than the coast of Mississippi. So I think if planted in the right spot and cared for they would do good or even look perfect to almost perfect.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eastern White Pine AL County Distribution

Sherry, when I was a kid we lived in Brewton,AL (i'm sure you know where that is) and I remember having a White pine in our yard. It was a beautiful tree and I remember it being about 20ft tall then. But, I decided to ride through the old neighborhood one day last year and the tree was gone. It could have been blown down, or it could have died naturally. I will say this, I have used white pine in carpentry work and I hate it. It's nice looking, but it's very soft and lightweight compared to the usual southern "yellow" pines. Whether or not that means a hurricane would rip them apart, I don't know.

Sorry to go off topic, but since we're talking about P. strobus I thought I'd throw in a pic of this tough old hombre wearing a winter coat. Do those of you in the deep south experience Hoar's frost?

{{gwi:330288}}

Sherry: Our local Christmas tree farmer plants lots of EWP although they are not highly recommended for this area. The needles are beautiful - very soft, at least on the young trees. Each needle appeared to have a thin blue stripe so they were very interesting.

I'm not as far south as you but I've been keeping track of the weather around the country. You had temps in the high 70s a few days ago, we had temps in the high 70s two days later. We were supposed to have thunderstorms, but they veered west.

Won't hurt anything to give them a try. Ooops! Sorry, it's time for an intervention!

Treeguy, the areas that are close to the bottom of the hollow on my property have a deep layer of black topsoil - as I recall, the average ph on these sites is 5.4, plenty acid, and anything planted there would only get filtered sun off and on throughout the day, so I think that's where I'll plant the white pines. These areas are reasonably well drained - the ground is only wet most all the time in the very bottom of the hollow. I think I'll just call FF and add two p. strobus to my order - I know they think I'm nuts!
I know what you mean about the difference in the wood from white pine and yellow pine, Alabama. The molding around my doors and windows is fluted, and it's white pine - yellow pine would be MUCH too hard to work. I laugh when I hear people call all pines "softwoods" - I think they use yellow pine to frame homes just because it is so hard. I hope that white pine isn't gone because it's brittle - I've had enough of brittle trees with loblolly pines!
Sherry

I don't know how they will do in MS but I have found them to be easy to transplant. I say give it a try. There are always naysayers who say thy won't even grow here north of atlanta but they do. If it doesn't work out then there are other nice pines you can try but white pine is probably my favorite.

I've never seen a tree that looked like that, Basic, so I guess I've never seen a hoar frost. It's beautiful, though!
They might very well do here, Quirky - the area where I plan to plant them is a good bit cooler than other parts of the property in summer - I tend to hang out there in August! :)
Sherry

Hi... My name is VancleaveTerry

It's been four hours since I last purchased any plants....

(Moso bamboo just arrived)... Princeton Elms and Nanjing Beauty Taxodiums should arrive soon.

Beautiful pic ... I've never seen anything quite like that on the coast.

Sherry,
I think that should be a ideal place for them, I actually would not be surprised if they thrive in that location.

Alabamatreehugger,
That pine might have died from White Pine Decline:

The disease appears to be caused by a complex of abiotic factors. Often, trees appear to be healthy in the landscape for a decade or more before decline symptoms begin to show.
Declining trees have needles that appear lighter green or yellow compared to healthy trees. Needles are shorter than normal and needle tips may be brown. Needles from the previous season often drop prematurely, giving the tree a tufted appearance. Annual shoot growth is also reduced. Bark of individual branches appears shriveled, and the branch and needles may appear limp.

Several factors related to growing conditions appear to be associated with white pine decline. Declining trees frequently appear on sites having (a) high soil pH (alkaline soil), (b) high soil clay content, (c) restricted rooting area, (d) compacted soil, and (e) mechanical disturbances causing injuries to roots. All these are bad especially with high summer heat can kill a EWP.

The best way to manage white pine decline is through prevention. Select sites with the following characteristics:
* a slightly acidic soil pH of 5.5 and not 6.5 or above;
* sandy or loamy rather than clay soils;
* a large area for root development;
* well-drained moist (not wet) soils high in organic matter
* were drought is not common
* cooler summer temperatures are preferred (but with the above it's much less a factor)
*Avoid soil compaction and root injuries.

After planting, maintain adequate watering, use mulch around the tree base, allow fallen needles to accumulate under the tree. Once decline starts, stopping or reversing the problem is usually futile. The following treatments might be attempted: adjust soil pH by treating the soil with granular sulfur, aerify the soil by vertical mulching or other means, and fertilize and water as needed.

Eastern White Pine does great here in Kansas. It's actually the largest growing conifer that's planted here in KS. Many have grown more than 100'(30.5m) tall(a few are in the 120'(36.6m) range even). It's planted in clay soils without problem here(I'm sure heavy clay wouldn't be the first choice of where to plant it, even though the ones here seem to do fine in relatively heavy clay). Here it tolerates neutral soils, but like others have said it really prefers acidic soils(even if just a little bit on the acid side they seem to do much better). According to the heat map, I'm in heat zone 7, but we've averaged about 100 days of above 86°F(30°C) each year over the past 6 or 7 years which would be heat zone 8. Also, there are many large old EWP that have been through our record heat of 114°F(45.6°C) back around 1980 and our record of 25(roughly, can't find the exact record right now) days in a row of above 100°F(37.8°C) high temperatures. So, I'd say they do quite well in heat.

Even though we get hotter here in summer than in MS or AL, we cool off by mid to late September and usually don't heat up until the beginning of June. So, the duration of the heat here is less(anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks less I'd say, depending on exact location and the year) than down in MS and AL and that probably has an effect on the health of an EWP. But if I was you, I'd give it a try.

I personally have never seen a frost like that here in northeast Tennessee.

In reply to the original topic, we have tons of White pines around here in northeast TN. In fact, they seem to the most common pines around here. It does indeed get hot too... normally 90s in the summer, with occasional 100° readings in northeast TN. We actually have about 3 White pines naturally growing on my lawn, as well as Lobollys. I have planted Longleaf pines and Slash pines (not native here), which have thrived.

RE:Sorry to go off topic, but since we're talking about P. strobus I thought I'd throw in a pic of this tough old hombre wearing a winter coat. Do those of you in the deep south experience Hoar's frost?

We have EWP's growing hear as well. I notice some older ones dying every once and a while. I think they do best growing on north facing slopes around here though. Have several in my neighborhood.

I was too embarrassed to call FF and add to my order - I've done this before - plus if I add any more, then my shipping will increase, which is big from Oregon. So I ordered 3 white pines/p. strobus from the Arbor Day Foundation, and while I was at it, I ordered a downy serviceberry/amelanchier arborea, and they threw in a forsythia and a red maple for free. I don't care anything about the forsythia, but I guess I can find a place for it in my front yard. The Arbor Day Foundation's trees are very reasonably priced.
Sherry

Sherry: Arbor Day does have good prices and selections. I was hesitant to order since I haven't heard comments pro or con. Have you ordered from them before?

No, Pam, I haven't. I ordered mine in containers, which made them cost a little more, but I don't like bare root plants. I'll let you know what the plants look like when they get here.
Sherry

Trees I have grown or attempted growing here in GA might surprise some are Balsam Fir, Quaking Aspen, Douglas Fir, sweet birch, yellow birch, paper birch and white pines too. So experimenting with trees that people say wont grow here is a particularly big interest of mine. I've also ordered from online sources to get the trees.

So far, so good -
{{gwi:330289}}
Sherry

congrats! they should fine. Like I said in February they grow here as well, and they get quite old. Keep us up to date.

Looks good. If you have deer they will browse upon the white pine and cause lots of damage, deer prefer white pine foliage over other pines to eat on. They can also trample seedlings, so putting up a few poles etc. and some fence wire around it can keep them away. Also Rabbits will nibble at the bottom and can kill it, you can wrap chicken wire around the bottom to keep them out.

Okay, will do!
Sherry

Does anyone know how these do in Colorado ? I've already got a SW White Pine ... but picked up a health 4' EWP recently at HD for only $29 . At this young age, they really do resemble a Limber Pine, IMHO. My SW White Pine is doing ok, but looking a little wind burned thus far.

Dunno about most areas, but about half the White Pines in Maryland look like hell.

A small percentage are slowly browning and have no new candle growth at all, as if they died over winter for some reason. About 20% have new candle growth but dead needles from last years' growth on parts of the tree and the new candles are stunted as a result.

Not sure if it's a disease or just a general decline, I've been told they don't do that great here.