In all probability, your state's forestry service, or forestry commission, will have quantities of pine seedlings, including _Pinus palustris_ and _Pinus elliottii_ available for purchase. Here in SC, I purchased five hundred longleaf pine seedlings in 1970 and five hundred slash pine seedlings in 1975 from the SC Forestry Commission and planted them on our farm. I would think the Forestry Commission of the State of Texas offers a similar service to Texans.

Neither of those transplant well by digging. Long taps roots.
Aside from that, you might prefer the looks of virginia, loblolly, shortleaf or austrian pines.

Prefer an Austrian over a longleaf!!??!! You must be drunk! Haha. :)

Actually, Austrian is very disease prone in the east. Longleaf is a very durable, long-lived species...

Just buy them from a place like mailordernatives.com. They have them cheap and will be much better than transplanting a wild tree.

Here is the link for the Texas Forest Service and their seedling program. Apparently you can get seedlings for West and Central Texas and they have recommended nurseries for East Texas (For customers interested in purchasing pine seedlings for East Texas plantings).

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Forest Service

I don't see what is that appealing about longleaf or slash pine.

Great for timber but they're about as beautiful as a utility pole or a cellphone tower.
{{gwi:331638}}

They seem to be popular even here in metro atlanta amongst gardeners that are into coastal natives but there are far prettier pines. Even in coastal areas there are nicer pines for landscaping. Sand pine for instance.

For some people in the southeast, using longleaf pine is a way to help bring back a species that was over-harvested. Longleaf pines have been found even as far north as Rome, GA (Berry College has a special population).

Other than that, I imagine that people choose based on personal preference. I really like white pine - a beautiful color, soft needles and very attractive pine cones.

Yeah white pine is definitely one of my favorites. Easy to transplant too. I can understand planting longleaf pine in a conservation area but in a garden???

iforgotitsonevermind, you must have different preferences than me, 'cause your pic shows a very handsome (to me) forest Longleaf. :) Thanks for the pic.

A Longleaf w/full sun on a lawn would be denser & broader.

This message is aimed at iforgotitsonevermind: There is no accounting for taste. Longleaf and slash pines are among the prettiest Southeastern pines that can be used in the landscaping of suburban or rural residential properties. They are equally beautiful in their native woodland enviromnents and are of great economic value as timber trees.

http://www.arborgen.com/forest/pines.php

This is the TFS recommended place for tree seedlings in E. Tx. It has both Slash and Longleaf pines.

Jay,
What is attractive about a 100' telephone pole with some pine needles at the top? People usually pay thousands of dollars to remove dead trees that look like that.⺠The southeastern coast plain has prettier pines. Slash is OK but loblolly is OK, but sand pine, spruce pine and virginia pine are much much better. I guess I just have a preference with trees with foliage and those branch things that stick out and cause shade.âº

I love the flattened and twisted crowns of very old longleaf pines. The long needles of it and slash are among the most beautiful in the genus in my opinion - especially when swaying in a breeze. The large cones of longleaf are also interesting - as are the big silvery buds. As for a garden plant, it is so bold and noble looking even as a young plant.

I guess its just personal preference. I do know that longleaf is much longer-lived and durable than the others...

BTW, I love spruce and sand pines too!

Avoid loblolly pines for sure... Hurricane Ike ruined them everyhere in Houston. I've seen a huge one fall on the a house right in the middle of the roof and caved in.

Hurricane... woah! Sounds like a better case for avoiding Houston than it does avoiding pines! âºâºâº

lou, what I heard from folks that went down to work on Hurricane Rita clean-up was that the pines snapped in two and the oak trees were up-rooted. Several of them said they would never plant a pine anywhere near their house after seeing the destruction that was caused.

We learned our lesson w/ pines after Hurricanes Hugo and Fran in NC. Pines sliced houses in half, but if I had enough space I would definitely plant a row of them. To me Longleafs are beautiful!

I'm beginning the 2nd year of a small reforestation project on the Chesapeake Bay in southeast VA. Longleaf pines used to be the dominant pine this region. Today, less than 100 mature trees remain in Virginia. I wanted to help reestablish longleaf pines in VA so have planted several groves.

Last year, I planted 100 LLP seedlings purchased from a NC farmer. This year, I purchased 250 seedlings from the NC State Nursery ($37). The quality of the NC seedlings is excellent. I planted about 100 and donated the rest to our forester for planting on public land.

The forester explained that provenance is very important with longleaf pines. The best seedlings will come from seeds in your immediate area. I haven't found a source of LLP seedlings in SE Virginia so I order from NC.

scotjute mentioned Arborgen.

In November, I ordered 200 seedlings from ArborGen - Shumard oak (Q. shumardii), Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), White dogwood (Cornus floridia), Sugar maple (Acer saccharum), Red mulberry (Morus rubra), Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). My choices were limited because I ordered late.

When the seedlings arrived in early January, I was astonished at their size and robust root systems. I heeled them in and am planting when time and weather permits.

ArborGen offers an incredible variety of seedlings. Their customer service is great. The link (below) will take you to pages about oaks, pines, fruit and nut trees, and other hardwoods.

Pam

Here is a link that might be useful: ArborGen Super Tree Seedlings

Who doesn't think this longleaf isn't beautiful (even if it is a little atypical for the species)
{{gwi:331640}}From Conifers Feb. 2009

..Who doesn't think this longleaf is beautiful..??

Like I said, there's prettier pines. If you have a 600mm camera lens so you can zoom in to the canopy of a "typical" longleaf pine. ⺠Not to say they aren't beautiful. I can't think of too many trees that I think are ugly but I would rather have one of the other pines in my garden.

"Who doesn't think this longleaf isn't beautiful (even if it is a little atypical for the species) "

Are you sure that is one? It looks more like one of the Mexican pines to me, most likely P. devoniana. Any cones on it?

Resin

iforgotitsonevermind - Where do you garden?

Outdoors, mostly.
Last time I did gardening inside the neighbors called the cops. âº

Resin,

I know - it does look like a Mexican pine. However, this is definitely P. palustris. This is at the southernmost limit in Florida. I notice this extra long-leaved form, with stouter, broader crowns there often. They seem to be found in a distinct geographical belt and are often found associated with P. elliotii var. densa.

Perhaps a study would reveal some introgression between these taxa or even a varietal status within P. palustris.

I have collected cones from these before and they are smaller than typical longleaf. I will try to post my photos of the cones sometime.

Longleaf Pine is my favorite pine right beside Eastern White Pine.
Longleaf has longest needles of any pine in the world at 18 inches (45cm) and has very huge interesting cones. And they can live about 500 years. Also Christopher J. Earle of www.conifers.org believes that Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) has the longest needles of any pine in the world (see link at the bottom).
"P. palustris at 45cm, closely followed by Mexico's P. nubicola at 43 cm; then there are a variety of species credited with 35 cm including P. engelmannii, P. devoniana and P. douglasiana, all of which are primarily Mexican. There are many species that have 30 cm needles."

If that's definitely a Longleaf Pine salicaceae that's one of the coolest ones I've seen with those weeping needles! Perhaps lack of snow and Ice storms preserves the the slightly longer needle Longleaf Pine varieties.
How long are the needles on that tree? An average and maximum needle length from that Longleaf would be very interesting to know. If its longest needles are anything over 18 inches that tree should be preserved and propagated for sure by grafting.

In the 1930s or 40s William Chambers Coker and Henry Roland Totten found in certain sections of North Carolina, especially around Rockingham, a remarkable weeping variety in which the needles reach a length of twenty-four inches, or 60cm.

Christopher J. Earle said: I've been to Rockingham several times looking for them and never found those trees. Perhaps not surprising since P. palustris has seen a 97% range reduction in the past 200 years.

Could you imagine how amazing it would be if these trees were found, imagine 2 foot long needles? But I too sadly agree they most likely all were logged many years ago.

Before European settlement the longleaf pine forest dominated as much as 90 million acres stretching from Virginia south to Florida and west to eastern Texas. Its range was defined by the frequent low intensity widespread fires that occurred throughout the southeast in the dry summer from lighting strikes ect. This rich ecosystem has now been relegated to less than 5% of its presettlement range making Longleaf Pine is a threatened species.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Longest Pine needles in the world.

Looking for Longleaf

"I was taken in by [Earley's] ability to evoke the smell and sound of longleaf pines in the southern wind, the distinctive odor of turpentine being distilled, the splinters and sawdust flying as giant longleaf pines were being cut for lumber, the decades long frustration of professional foresters unable to regenerate longleaf, the excitement of the quail hunt, and the swirl of dust as a forester swings his pickup to a halt in front of a newly restored longleaf stand."

From a review of "Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest" by Lawrence Earley, The University of North Carolina Press (2004).

I do love the sound of the wind blowing through mature longleaf pines. I guess it could be described as an echoing whirring sound that comes from all around you, and it's very soothing. The property adjacent to mine has a mixture of longleaf and slash pines and on a cool breezy day like today I can sit out there for hours listening to the wind.