Studies has concluded that Pinus heldreichii and Pinus leucodermis are the same species. And I suppose Pinus heldreichii var. leucodermis is just an erroneous use for the tree in cultivation. I'm not a 100% sure though.

One of my suppliers and many other sources rates it about zone 5.

It's a really beautiful tree, with very special bark. Just take a look at the photo of the Baikushev's Pine in Bulgaria. I have to get a few of this species myself some day.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baikushev's Pine

Following up on phasmagnosis' link, here's a quote from the Wikipedia page for Bosnian Pine(P. heldreichii); by the way "Bosnian Pine" is the only (English)common name I've ever heard for this Pine and P. leucodermis is now synonymous for P. heldreichii as far as I know; anyway here's the quote:

"It is very tolerant of severe winter cold, hardy down to at least -45°C, and of severe wind exposure. Many in cultivation are still grown under the name "Pinus leucodermis" or "Pinus heldreichii var. leucodermis"."

For those metric challenged, that's -49°F, which would make it zone 2!(at least briefly) I've always heard this Pine was zone 4/5 hardy, but that's mostly been from catalog descriptions. I did see it growing well in the Chicago area, so it's at least zone 5 hardy. Lastly, I believe Resin started the Wikipedia page for this species, but not sure if he added the hardiness info or not.

Very nice tree. Certainly zone 4, and probably zone 3, hardy. Not sure how it would do in zone 2.
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Resin

I was bracing for the worst, so this is very welcome information. I may go back and buy a couple more at this price. Resin, thanks for posting the pics. The cones look interesting. I've read this tree cones freely at a young age, and maybe they'll be inclinded to do so for me.
Thanks to all for responding.

Bob

Was this tree for sale at a big box store or other national chain or was it just local?

For $6, I'd pick up a couple!

Hey Matt,

Its a midwest-based retailer that tries to compete with Wal-Mart. Yeah, right, good luck with that. Looks like they only go down to Nebraska. BTW, I picked up a 4' Pinus densiflora ÂUmbraculifera (no, not $6 for this one) from them as well. I've contemplated buying the Tanyosho Pine for a few years, but couldn't quite bring myself to shelling out the $$$. I went shopping for a riding mower battery and came home with conifers. DW could only roll her eyes. :>)

Bob

Here is a link that might be useful: Shopko

Yep, nice dark purple-blue immature cones, though they fade pale brown after opening. It doesn't bear cones quite as young as e.g. Abies koreana, but does start fairly early, at around 2-3m tall or thereabouts.

It is also very adaptable to different soil types from acidic to limestone, as long as it gets reasonable drainage.

Resin

Shopko carries trees like that? Who'd a thunk?

tj

Thanks for the tip, Basic. We've got Shopko! Now there's another thing for my to-do list.

+oM

Thanks for the follow up. Never heard of shopko before. Looks like I might have to make a trip up to Lincoln, NE! It'd give me an excuse to check out their "Nebraska Statewide Arboretum".