Talk about mega-newbie question! ..... Does anyone have any suggestion on good places to find pure Japanese Black Pine species(and Japanese Red Pines) online for purchase? hey..WELCOME first.. be prepared to be enabled ... lol second.. let get you up to speed on using latin names .... Japanese Red Pine (Pinus densiflora) .. densiflora is about as common as they come.. if you cant find good CULTIVARS for sale .... mail order.. just give up now ... lol... do you know the difference between as species and a cultivar .... ?? generally.. species are otherwise know as forest trees.. and unless you have a couple hundred acres.. you dont really want them in your garden ... what you should be looking for.. is a Cultivated Variety [aka CultiVar] chosen for its size... shape.. color.. texture.. making it somehow unique to the species ... BTW.. do you know what 'Oculis-draconis' means? ... it will define why this one was chosen for propagation??? next.. make plans to remove all your grass ... in the next few decades... lol ... there is so much we can teach you.. if you wish to hang around ... an easy way to start.. is to read thru the 60 odd pages of posts.. and then zero in on specific questions for new posts ... all pix can be reloaded if you want to see them... soooo ... do you really want a bunch of extremely large forest trees.. or are you looking for cultivars.. and once you answer that question.. are you looking for color.. size.. texture.. etc ... here is a link to a primer on conifers ... pay special attention to the section on Conifer Sizes.. what i call ANNUAL GROWTH RATE ... that is what defines mini.. dwarf.. intermediate.. and large plants .... [and has been covered in hundreds of posts] .. but if you have specific ???'s.. feel free.. we can cover it again ...: http://www.conifersociety.org/cs2/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=3 how about a pic or two of your potential garden space ..... in a new post.. and we can brainstorm that for you also ... welcome.. and good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: vast potential ....

Was researching it myself about a month ago and it seems that it's "somewhat common" amongst enthusiasts. I did a lot of my searching on google and google images, there's a chance you may have the compact dwarf variety i've read about. I have about 20 seeds planted of the standard size and am now waiting for them to come up. Might use a nicer one for bonsai, plant one or two as compact upright trees, then give the rest away to friends + family. It'll take years till i get there but it'll be fun in the meantime.

If you have the room just plant typical seedlings. Be sure to get shore pine from Pacific Slope seed sources and not lodgepole pine from the Intermountain Region. Up my way there are native shore pines that do, in fact grow in wetlands that flood during the winter, drain during the summer. At my instigation a friend and I canoed into an island east of Everett one year to walk among native wetland shore pines there, the high water mark on the trunks was above our heads. If you Google for pictures of Ebey Island and look around a bit you should be able to see some of them, there are several stands there - where it grows mixed with Sitka spruce, another characteristic wetland tree in the Puget Trough. I also once read on the internet a serious (as in Forest Service) account that said this representation in the bogs and swamps here was actually from the Alaskan population and not the same race as those out at the beach. When I looked for it later I couldn't find it, and I have never seen that assertion made anywhere else.

I my Pinetum I have the following cultivars of Pinus koraiensis: 'Blue Ball': This is a witches'broom from German origin. 'Dragon Eye': (aka 'Oculis-draconis')with yellow stripes in it's needles. 'Fastigiata': I received this narrowwer form from Czech Republick. 'Gee Broom': This is a witches'broom found by Gee Farm. 'Jack Corbit': Slightly variegated. 'Morris Blue': Good blue needled form. 'Nana': semi-dwarf form, will grow into a little tree at age. 'Shibamichi': Slow growing narrow form with nice blue needles. 'Silveray' upright form with silvery blue needles, is a Dutch selection. 'Silvergrey' upright form, needlecolour is a pale blue, is not the same as previous item. 'Spring Grove': a witches'broom found in the U.S. 'Variegata' Some needles are partly or completely yellow. 'Winton': Bush shape form, probably a cross with Pinus pumila. I'm busy to try to add some pictures... Gardener 365, Is the cultivarname 'K.G.' the new name for 'Gee Broom' and what does these initials means? I always thought that 'Silveray' and 'Glauca' are 2 names for the same plant. The World Checklist says that 'Glauca' is an illegitimate name and is replaced by 'Silveray'. The reason I think of this namechanging is because it's found in 1979.