A lot of conifers have pink or red immature cones; most of the ones that do are high altitude species (and often dark purple in very high altitude species), so it probably helps in thermoregulation and ultraviolet light blocking.

The cones change from pink/red/purple to brown when they are mature and dry out to open and release the seeds.

All cones (whatever colour) need to be pollinated to produce seeds!

Resin

Interesting.... How high is high altitude? I grew up in boulder (over a mile high) but never noticed anything but brown cones.... Then again, I was probably more interested in other things then to notice....

So the cones can be produced regardless of pollination, but would be empty of seeds of not pollinated? I need to find a good diagram on the mating habits of conifers.... Flowers and fruit I get but cones seem mysterious.... Like spores or something..

Where is the pollen made? Does that come from the cone? Or should I forget the whole flower analogy?

"Interesting.... How high is high altitude?"

Depends a bit on latitude as well, so at lower altitudes further north, but not altogether. A few lowland northern species have dark cones (e.g. Black Spruce), but generally, it is higher up, close to treeline. In central/southern Europe (42-47°N lat.), Mountain Pine and Bosnian Pine have dark purple cones and occur at 1200-2500m altitude. In Colorado (37-41°N lat.), Engelmann Spruce (2000-3500m) often (but not invariably) has pink or purple cones, and Rocky Mts Bristlecone Pine (2500-3500m) has purple cones. But equally, Limber Pine (2000-3500m) has green cones, so it doesn't always apply. The darkest cones of all (effectively black) are on Hartweg's Pine, which grows at up to 4200m altitude in central Mexico (18-20°N lat.).

"So the cones can be produced regardless of pollination, but would be empty of seeds of not pollinated?"

Yes, that's right. If cones don't get pollinated, sometimes they are aborted by the tree and drop off while still young and tiny, other times they stay on and develop to full size but only have empty seeds in.

"Where is the pollen made?"

The pollen is produced in separate pollen cones; they are small and papery in texture, and only present for a short period in spring  they drop off as soon as their pollen has dispersed. Pic at the link below; once you see it, you'll probably realise you have seen pollen cones before but without really being fully aware of them (easy to do!!).

Resin

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:648604}}

you again.. hmmmm...

lol

first.. forget about elevation for your yard ... i mean really.. what are you in NJ.. 3 inches above the atlantic ....

where the plant came from.. and its hereditary background is truly fascinating stuff.. and if you are interested.. go for it ...

but it really has no impact on what choices you make for your garden ...

background info on such revolves around issues related to the elevation.. like humidity .. sunshine ... rain ]water retention or shedding].. soils ... e.g. you dont find a lot of farm quality loam up in the mountains ... what you have up there is ROCKS ... which for you.. translates into DRAINAGE .... if you take said plant.. and try to grow it in a swamp in high humidity arkansas... one might predict failure ...

so learn about it all .. but dont get too wound up in it ... eh???

check out the link for a general intro ....

also .. copy/paste this address for some pix:

http://www.conifersociety.org/cs/modules.php?op=modload&name=coppermine&file=index

finally .... cones ... its an issue of sexual maturity .... and it can take a lonnnnggggg time for many conifers to reach such ....

if this variable is important to you ... you better be prepared to wait.. 10.. 20.. 30 years for cones.. and be pleasantly surprised if they come sooner.. UNLESS you buy specific named varieties known to cone very early ....

when choosing conifers.. IMHO.. there are many other variables that will come before pretty cones ....

i am bumping up an old post named :Abies concolor cone pix ... check it out .. 8 years for the first cone..

the most important info at the intro to my mind.. is annual growth rate .... to simplify it greatly.. if a plant grows one foot per year.. in 10 years.. it will be 10 feet ... which is how most sites guess height ... unfortunately.. in 20 years.. it will be 20 feet.. and most keep going for your lifetime ... presuming you start with a one foot plant ...

so if you have a given space... and an idea of a tree [which conifers are] you like .... think about how fast it will get to that size.. before it exceeds it ...

IMHO.. buy things that make your toes curl.. and then cut them down in 10 years.. if they exceed the space.. rather than FITTING something in there.. simply for the sake of FITTING it in there ... life is too short to look at ugly plants that fit ...

good luck

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Adrian Bloom's Gardening with Conifers has an excellent series of photos illustrating the development and change in coloring of Abies cones over time (Abies species often develop rather intensely colored immature cones and often when the trees are quite young as well). There is also a similar series of photos tracking the development of the male 'flowers' or pollen producing structures as well as a decent explanation of the pollination/cone development process. Not a bad text all in all, although not very detailed and quite abbreviated with regards to specific cultivars. But with some great illustrations of conifers and mixed conifer plantings that are sure to inspire.

Thanks Resin and Ken! Yes, now I realize that I have seen those pollen cones. funny how I can see something for years and never really see it...

Yep it's me again...this is what happens when winter comes, all the flowers go away, and suddenly I start noticing TREES for the first time in my life....and work is boring....I become obsessed.

As for not getting too wound up....why on earth not? Actually, I'm interested for 2 reasons - ONE is to choose plants for my yard, but the other, and more pressing one in Januaray, is because, well, I'm a geek and it's fascinating. I have a special interest in learning about front-range-of-the-Rockies plants just because I grew up there and will always love it, but I know many of those plants would not do well where I am now. When I first moved to NJ I actually felt the bright shades of green I saw everyhwhere were obscene and could not possibly be natural - I was too used to the browns and reds or the Rockies. Totally different ecosystem.

My garden plans in the winter are always far more adventurous and fantastical than in the spring when I actually go to put things in the ground...for my basic garden structure I'm trying to stick to things I've seen growing easily in my neighborhood, and whic hthe deer are less likely to completely and totally decimate every single year. After I have my basic structure in I'll start experimenting with less sure bets.

Good to know that most will take a long time to produce cones - I won't count on that then. Is the bright color associated with certain regions produced on the same plants in a different altitude - in other words, is it a product of genetics or of environment?

Thanks for the links! Also, let me know if there are some good books I should get ahold of. I just started reading one from the library called Gardening with Conifers by Adrian Bloom.

how funny gardengal - I must have been posting at the same time you were - I was just drooling over Adrian Bloom's book last night! I didn't check out those pics yet though...I was looking at the pics of gorgeous conifer gardens.

geeks rule ....

ken