Sugar pine 'Nazareno' across from Arboretum di Vallombrosa, Reggello, Tuscany, Italy

The longest Pinus lambertiana cone measurement I've seen cited is 64 cm.

Are there any records of the largest recorded Sugar Pine cones,length. One photo on the net, the cone is as long in length as a man's shoulder to his waist, must be 18 inches.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4511026

Thought that I had spotted a stand of possible Sugar Pines, the habit looked more drooping and reminiscent of photos of Sugar Pines that I have seen but Owen put me right in thinking more Corsican.

I see no reason why Sugar Pine could have grown very well if it were not for Blister Rust. Early trees grew very well. Trying to establish the trees performance with just a handful of trees I think is flawed.

Sugar Pine from the Sierras could grow well in the UK (growing amongst Giant Sequoia where this species does so well in the UK) could be a possible seed choice. Perhaps original introductions came from here? Another seed provenance from NW California and Oregon.

There has not been any trial from the resistant strains as far as I know in the UK.

Not sure about whether this species requires summer heat?

I suspect the species is vulnerable to red band needle blight.

I've seen the Hawkestone Hall Sugar Pine; I think I've got a couple of cr@p slide photos of it, but they'd need scanning. As I remember it, it is a rather lop-sided tree with heavy branches on one side and rather shaded on the other side. Yes, I reckon lack of summer heat in Britain is an important factor; the cones of both this tree and the one at Kew are small (~18-22 cm) and clearly not properly developed, not maturing well in our summers. Apparently the one at Bicton in Devon produced normal large cones though, just before it died from Armillaria.

Seed origin would definitely be worth investigating, collections from the NW of the species' range in Oregon might do better here, and seed from selected Cronartium-resistant trees should be available now.

I have just applied for permission to get into Hawkstone Hall grounds this summer and hunt for the Sugar Pine (and champion Taxus baccata 'Adpressa'). I don't know whether it's just blister-rust and damage to leading buds that has prevented the few in cultivation here from growing as well as most west-coast American conifers do, or whether the extra summer warmth of N Italy is significant.

151262

Pinus lambertiana

Dropmore

29.00 112 352 1950 PR 1843 Slough

Buckinghamshire

England

Britain & Ireland Champion: Historic Girth & Height; Country Champion: Historic Girth & Height; County Champion: Historic Girth & Height

Comments

The second of two big trees here. Died of blister-rust in 1950; only a few much younger trees remain in Britain. 'Raised from seed given to Lady Grenville by the Duke of Buccleuch in 1843' (E & H). Mr Page in 1908.

This is one of the greatest shames on this site, what height would this tree have been now if it had survived and thrived? Are there likely to be any more at Dropmore still surviving?

3216

Pinus lambertiana

Hawkstone Hall

23.00 97 305 1992 O Shrewsbury

Shropshire

England

Country Champion: Historic Girth & Height; County Champion: Historic Girth & Height

Comments

An original tree? Heavily branched; still there (Michael Frankis in 2016)?

Take any photos of this one Conifers?

This is a superb tree, Pinus Lambertiana is a tree that I would really like to see in person, about top on my tree wish list.Doubt that I will find any in Yorkshire alas. From the details here doesn't look as if the opportunity is going to be forthcoming. Would love to see the huge cones. Is the drier south east going to be the best location for Sugars in Britain?

Caro Valido, mi dispiace anche di non parlare italiano e di non poter tradurre correttamente i commenti nella tua lingua madre!

Mi piacerebbe parlare e scrivere italiano!

Mi dispiace, Erwin Gruber, non ti posso rispondere perchè non riesco a capire quello che mi chiedi e non riesco a tradurre in italiano. Sorry!

I had wondered before that Sugar Pine might grow that large in Europe despite it's reported susceptibility to blister rust, didn't know that climate in Italy doesn't favour the fungus the same as in Britain. Don't know either if P. lambertiana is that more damaged for usual than P. strobus, which is surely affected by the rust, but there are well grown, relatively large ones in Styria for example. The climate here seems to be too harsh in winter for good growth of Sugar Pine, i don't know any myself.

Maybe Superalberi, Giant Trees Foundation got images to confirm the species, couldn't find a video about this pine at youtube.

Almost certainly the largest in Europe; there are no particularly large specimens in Britain, due to the species' high susceptibility to Cronartium ribicola rust disease. This disease is less of a problem in Italy due to the hotter, drier summers reducing the transmission rate.

Maybe this could be the highest Sugar pine known to grow in Europe? As usual there could even be relatively large Pinus lambertiana in UK or Ireland, just a guessing of mine. I do hope specific identification is right, as i could not tell which kind of white pine it is on reason of photos.