Pinus

Pinus or pines as they are popularly known as, are evergreen conifers that are long lived and can live up to 1,000years. The bark varies from thick and scaly to thin and flaking. Pines have four types of leaves, the seed leaves that are found on seedlings, juvenile leaves that follow the seed leaves, scale leaves that are small and brown and formed spirally and finally the needles, these are adult leaves which are a long dark green. They do produce cones mainly in spring and sometimes in autumn, as soon as they have shed their pollen they do fall off. Pinus grow really well in acidic soils, they do need good soil drainage but some varieties can tolerate poorly drained wet soils. Pines make beautiful specimens and also screen out an unwanted sites.