I love eastern white pines! Part of the reason we bought this place back in 1999 was that there was a white pine already here. I fell in love with those silky, soft needles when I first encountered them… Most pine needles are stiff and bristle-y so I was surprised by my first encounter with the white pine ones. They also make good mulch. The trees are softwood and grow very tall so they can be vulnerable to breaking in high winds as they age so that’s something to be wary about when they get old. They shouldn’t be planted too close to a house or anywhere else where they could cause damage if they broke off and fell in a storm.

I want ones that look bristly lol

Are you limiting yourself to pines, or are other conifers like spruce and hemlock an option?

Pines

I love red pines but they grow very slow. I found a giant one in my neighborhood

'I love red pines but they grow very slow'

So 2+ feet annual growth isn't fast enough for you?

Here's one of my P. resinosa the first week of June pushing new growth.

Here it is a couple of weeks later. And this year was a near drought year without supplemental water.

What type of soil do you have?

Wow really? Google said only 10 inches lol

Planted that one spring of 2017 as a 2-1/2 ft. whip, dug from the wild woods. ;-)

I have bad clay wet soil. Our yard feels like a swamp. Super muddy

Do loblolly’s do good in the Midwest?

I have no idea but google does say usda hardiness z6-9.

Here's the native range map. I don't know if anywhere shown could be called 'Midwest'.
Pinus taeda:

I live in NE Ohio and love the shape of them. I went to North Carolina and fell in love with them. Is it too cold here?

From the Ohio Department of Natural Resources: https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/plants-trees/needle-like-leaves/loblolly-pine-pinus-taeda

How fast do eastern white pines grow?

Depending on your soil, at least as fast as Red pine, a little faster I'd say.

Pines generally grow on coarser sandy soils with white pine liking a little better soil than red pine.

Do you see pines growing in your area? Do you have the same soil as the places that pines grow?

I found a white pine in the forest in my yard recently. It was growing in our crappy clay soil

I found this article interesting.

'Below are commonly found pines, spruces, and firs in Ohio.

Common pines in Ohio include Austrian pine, eastern white pine, loblolly pine, mugo (Swiss mountain) pine, pitlolly pine, red pine, Scotch pine, and Virginia pine. Other pines that are sometimes found in arboreta, parks, and cemeteries include Ponderosa pine, pitch pine, shortleaf pine, Jack pine, Korean pine, Himalayan pine, lacebark pine, and Japanese red pine.'

https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/anr-80#:~:text=Below%20are%20commonly%20found%20pines,Scotch%20pine%2C%20and%20Virginia%20pine.

The general idea is finding the type of tree that will grow well in your area.

Your county extension or forestry office would have valuable information on this.

Talk to your local tree nurseries too and see what they say.

Even up in my country, the local nursery has for years planted various types of tree to see what grows good in our local area.

Ohio is a hodge podge of soil types, so talking to someone that works along these lines would be best.

https://agri.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/13c3c9ae-6856-48d9-9a05-59e093d50970/Soil_Regions_of_Ohio_brochure_2018.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_M1HGGIK0N0JO00QO9DDDDM3000-13c3c9ae-6856-48d9-9a05-59e093d50970-mPknVPv

Henry Z,

Crappy clay can vary in how much clay is in the soil. Clay loams are very good soils that grow many types of trees well. Heavy clay or mostly clay, well it can vary.

If you want to find out what kind of clay/loam you have, try the mason jar soil test.

I'll add a link that explains what to do:

https://preparednessmama.com/jar-soil-test/

As mentioned, red pine may be your best native choice. Loblolly pine grows fine here in my z6 -- withstood -9F a couple times. But z5 prb'ly is pushing it and a very cold winter might do it in. I have a loblolly x pitch pine hybrid (pitlolly) that is more cold-hardy, but I don't see them offered anymore. Pitch pine and Table mountain pines will grow well, but hard to find. Virginia pine is a sparse tree -- some interest tho in one like mine -- Wate's Golden. Southwestern white pine (AZ and NM) looks a bit different than eastern white -- more blueish green. Look at musserforest.com and they commonly have native pines. You can also look at the lovettpinetum.org/horticulture/ site for general pine interest.

I've planted as many different native pine species as I could because oaks and pines are generally the most successful tree-groups in many temperate areas.

A good discussion about pines at https://lovettpinetum.org/horticulture/pines-for-southwest-missouri/

"I have bad clay wet soil. Our yard feels like a swamp. Super muddy"

Is this where you'd be planting the pine? If so, I think I'd look at something other than pine. Our native Red Pine (P. resinosa) is unlikely to do well in these conditions.

What do you mean by 'mountainy" or "bristly?"

I have found a white pine on my property with about the same soil conditions as I’m describing and it’s giant! So I don’t know anymore of what can be planted in muddy wet clay soil

Oops! Turns out it was a Scot’s pine! Not a native pine

Well there you go. If that's not a tree to give a 'Mountainy feel' I don't know what is. Much of it's native range is in pretty rugged country. From sea level to 8,000 ft. ;-)

I’m pretty sure Scot’s pine is an invasive species

Boy that's weird. Funny an org like invasive.org can list them as invasive in IA, but when you look a literature from Iowa state university, the reason they don't recommend them anymore is not because of invasiveness but because of pathogens that cause them not to grow well.

https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/forestry/iowa_trees/trees/scotch_pine.html

My BIL planted 100's of them years ago and I think most of them died over time.

what about Hemlock. Its a beautiful tree.

I’m not a fan of hemlocks, I have one, and to me they are kind of boring. I do love Douglas firs tho

Douglas firs will gradually get needlecast disease as they get older (in the US east). Not as bad as blue spruce and others, but they never make a decent older tree in my experience.

I got an eastern white pine today! I wonder where I should put it

👍 Nice!

First you have to decide where you someday want a huge forest tree.

And don't plant where you may put something underneath it someday, Like a deck or auto. They are the sappiest trees I can think of.

For a tree like that to grow well, it will need Full Sun. That is at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunshine a day to keep it healthy, more is better.

Don't plant in a low, wet area or an area that pools water for days/weeks.

Planting a tree on a mound is recommended in heavy clay soils, to give the tree a chance to develop a good root system that spreads out over time.

Here's a link to very good methods of planting a tree or shrub.

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

Oh, and don't leave that pot sitting out in the sun. It can get very hot and damage the roots.

Yeah, we have a tornado warning rn, idk what to do with it

When it comes out of the pot, make sure to check for circling roots. Even if there aren't any, I always take something sharp and scrape the side of the soil ball to loosen it up so roots will grow outward easier.

The Wikipedia information is interesting - particularly re the age it can get to and height/growth rate. I love the tree here - I use the annual needlecast as mulch and a lot of the woodland garden is under the pine. There was an Austrian pine too when we moved here in 1999 but it died. The white pine was probably 30+ years old when we moved here. We had the branches from the lower 6-8' removed last year to let more light in under it. Given how tall they can get, try to plant it far away from any structures.

Plant it where the sun shines. BTW, It looks either clorotic or is one of the gold cultivars (i.e. Louie).

Just a little FYI. It isn't Scot's ie belonging to someone called Scot. It's Scots ie coming from Scotland.

"I got an eastern white pine today! I wonder where I should put it."

We all do this ... buy a plant on impulse and then wonder what to do with it. But really you should firstly be looking at your property and thinking about how you will use it, where you will walk, sit, work etc. Where you want or already have sun and shade. Deciding what it needs in terms of shapes, colours, screening, vistas. And only then looking for plants which fit those criteria. So far your posts have been about searching for specific plants, many of which don't exist or you can't grow in your climate. That is collecting, it isn't gardening or landscaping. You don't buy the curtains before you build the house. You fit the plant choice to the conditions, not vice versa. Rosaprimula gave you some very good information and advice on another thread. And you haven't given us any visual representations of your yard to work with. We don't know if you have mature acres or a new mini plot.

A little late to this conversation but I also suggest Red Pine.....I have 20 of them planted around my house to create that "forest" look......they grow 16-24 inches per year. Just beware of weevils that can kill the leaders in the spring and set the tree back a bit. And the weevils are even worse in white pines....at least around here in Maine.