Are Pine Trees Native to the Northeast of the U.S.?

USDA Zone 3

• The red pine grows throughout USDA zone 3 in northern Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as in zone 3 in New York State. Red pine grows to between 50 and 70 feet in cultivation and over 100 feet in the wild. The most unique aspect of this pine is its orange-red, brownish bark, which makes the tree suitable as an ornamental. Zone 3 supports the jack pine, which is appropriate for use as a windbreak. Jack pine has a shrubby appearance and grows to 50 feet and has stiff green needles and curved cones.

USDA Zone 4

• Jack pine and red pine grow into zone 4, but the eastern white pine is prominent among the pines in this part of the Northeast. Eastern white pine develops to 80 feet high, making for a majestic specimen tree in an open landscape. Its cultivars include the manageable 20-foot tall "UConn," a type with blue-green foliage. Eastern white pine is an easy pine to transplant. Naturalized areas and areas within zone 4 plagued by poor soils are good settings for the pitch pine. Pitch pine has an open canopy of branches, grows to 60 feet and has what the University of Connecticut Plant Database calls "armor-plated" bark.

USDA Zone 5

• Dark green needles and shiny red brown cones are features of the Virginia pine, a species growing into USDA zone 5 in the Northeast. Virginia pine has reddish bark and the tree is a good choice for the buffer zones between properties. The "Wate's Golden" cultivar has yellow winter needles that change back to green in warmer weather. "Fastigiata" is a cultivar of eastern white pine for this part of the Northeast, growing 40 feet high but just 10 feet wide, giving it a columnar appearance.

USDA Zone 6

• The southern parts of the Northeast, including much of Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, most of Connecticut and New Jersey and portions of Pennsylvania, are suitable venues for eastern white pine and pitch pine, since these trees grow wild there. New Jersey and Pennsylvania within zone 6 is the northern range of the shortleaf pine. Shortleaf pine, with 3-inch long needles, is not particularly handsome, but it serves as a windbreak when young and works well in naturalized portions of the landscape.