Sorry, I cannot for the life of me get these pics to rotate..

Bump :)

Lane, I'm pretty sure that "pine" is a Norway spruce, lol. Oh well, pine family anyway! Looks like it got topped and then broke into this strange multi-trunked growth pattern.

Edited to add: Now I'm not so sure. Just re-read where you said needles are in 3's and 5's. That ain't spruce. Sure looks like an NS otherwise.

Bristlecone pine or one of the related species. When trying to identify pines the seed cones are often important.

Yep I think you're right, Embo. It's about the only pine I know of with that rather "sprucey" look to it, from a distance anyway. Plus, it's the pine that one would expect to see in that part of the world.

Could this be Mugo Pine? All the pictures of Mugo pine on google are knee-high shrubs, though

I agree, looks like a Bristlecone Pine. I don't see the white resin flecks like on a aristata. Maybe a longaeva?

Mike

Bristlecone.

excellent. Thanks, guys. These are supremely cool trees and should be planted more imo.

I like em out in their home range. For me, it was New Mexico's populations that I mostly saw-lots of acreage in mixed bristlecone scrub.

They do best in the landscape where they do not get overspray from turf. A little bit of supplemental water is fine, too much will often kill them.

Interesting. My brother just bought this house from the original owner which was built in 1961. The lawn is super nice, thick and green and the only way you get that in Laramie is to water the crap out of it.

I bought something like 30 Pinus aristata and potted them into the thickest, moistest soil mix I could make. The survivors (4) of which (3) looked fine I used to plant into my moist and always water retentive loamy-clay soil.

I'm on my second one now after two years in-ground. The first made it 2-years. I gave away another and the fourth did succumb to death in its container.

Another Bristlecone I've been growing in a container for 5-6 years has about 80% perlite to peat moss. It's a witches' broom seedling that will be ready to plant soon (and will likely die due to my soil structure.)

Dax

Maybe these are doing OK because there's an alley on the other side of that wall that, of course, gets no irrigation.