Pinus parviflora 'Shirome-janome' would make a lovely choice.

can you define SMALL ... can you also define the shade ...

shade rarely kills a tree ... but it can affect annual growth and fullness of the plant ....

Pinus parviflora 'Shirome-janome' ias a poor grower for me in MI ... and i think part of it is the harsh winters ... and im thinking z4 WY winter isnt going to be much easier ....

did i recently see a WY post about winter winds ... yellow tissue usually burns off in my MI winds ...

now all that said.. mine never died ... and i accept it for what it is .... lol ... which is ugly 3 out of 4 years .. but OMG that 4th year ...

a pic of the spot might really help ..

ken

PS: my winter winds prevail from the NW .... where are yours from .. will the house block winds??? .. or put the plant right in the bullseye???

It's really, really simply to keep any pine virtually as small as you like through systemic candling in the spring and aesthetic pruning in the summer/fall/winter.

I didn't catch the USDA Zone 4 bit. If you were to move to Oregon, you could grow some really cool conifers with little trouble at all.

My Pinus Mugo 'Sunshine' has been doing surprisingly well in a shaded location. It's shaded by a Plum Tree yet still has variegation.

Pines in shade are a mixed bag. Mostly because people always think they have more light than the plant does. Call it the power of convincing yourself of what you want.

That being said...there are enough evergreen choices for north side foundation planting you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

That's a tough ask, because pines are generally not considered shade tolerant, and then your z4 rules out Sciadopitys verticillata, not a true pine, but the umbrella pine is fairly shade tolerant.

If you get a couple hours of sun, Pinus strobus is going to be your best choice. Tons of cultivars to choose from.

If you provide more specifics about type/amount of sun, desired shape/size/color of tree, and why it has to be a pine....you might get better answers

Are you using the term "pine" the way we are or do you mean "anything with needles"?

tj

I'd agree that for Pinus (true pines), eastern white pine prb'ly has the most shade tolerance (not all that much). I do see saplings growing in fairly dense understories, but they never thrive there unless something opens up.

No - I like pines specifically. I've seen mini pines around that are planted close to some houses here and I like them. I was hoping to get some that would do well on the north side of a building.

I'll post pictures of the spot this weekend. hopefully

Lane, what size are you thinking? The soft pines like Korean, Eastern, Swiss stone, Japanese are bit more shade tolerant.

Pinus cembra is going to be your best bet depending on desired shape/size. Although even the larger cultivars grow very slowly. A 45 year old 'Tip Top' was 20' x 7'.

Keep in mind even these somewhat 'shade' tolerant pines will still need 4-6 hours sunlight. I grew a very happy Pinus cembra specimen off the north/northwest corner of my house. It still got 6 hours of sun at the height of summer though.

Mugo Pines are shade tolerant. I have a dwarf Mugo Pine in heavy shade and it's been doing very well.

I would question how tolerant they might be of "heavy" shade. Partial, light or dappled shade they will tolerate, although they will be leggier and less dense than if grown in more sun. But I have yet to see any mugo look good in heavy shade after more than a year or two. Full sun plants just do not perform the same way in much shade.....it's kind of inarguable :-)

Maybe 'heavy' was the wrong word. It gets a few hours of morning sun.

I agree with Stuart that mugo pines are much more shade tolerant than they are given credit for. I have one, pretty dense, would be more so, but keeps getting attacked by pine sawfly. I'll put my solar meter out there an see how many hours it gets, but it's not much, especially in winter

It can get confusing tossing these terms around as everyone has their own interpretation of what they mean. But in botanical or horticultural terms, "heavy shade" is defined as receiving NO direct sunlight. Even just a few hours of morning sun qualifies as only part shade. And while not exactly thriving under these conditions, mugos will tolerate it. Heavy shade - not at all!

Is this thread still actjve? its a very relevant discussion horticulturally rarely discussed it seems in relation to shade tolerance and pines at least. I understand they are not tolerant of heavy shading, though is this defined as woodland shade or ? its a tricky one. i have a high canopy shaded patch which is south facing and recieves plentiful sunlight prior to late spring (when leaves come out in the uk) could i place a couple of mugo mops dwarf pines here?