{"id":5753,"date":"2013-12-06T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T17:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=5753"},"modified":"2018-02-10T21:08:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-11T02:08:14","slug":"japanese-umbrella-pine-is-unique-among-evergreens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2013\/12\/06\/japanese-umbrella-pine-is-unique-among-evergreens\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Umbrella Pine Is Unique Among Evergreens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_5754\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-4.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5754\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5754\" title=\"Sciadopitys verticillata (4)\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-4-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-4-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-4-1024x678.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5754\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Umbrella pine at North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_5755\" style=\"width: 208px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-5.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5755\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5755\" title=\"Sciadopitys verticillata (5)\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-5-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-5-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Sciadopitys-verticillata-5-678x1024.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5755\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sciadopitys verticillata<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Umbrella pine (<em>Sciadopitys verticillata<\/em>) is an outstanding evergreen large shrub or medium-sized pyramidal tree. Initially, umbrella pine grows slowly, only 6 to 8 inches annually, but growth rate picks up after 4-5 years. A young 3-foot tall plant may reach 20 to 30 feet tall in 25 years and double that at maturity.<\/p>\n<p>Its leaves are unique&#8211;dark green, 2 to 5 inches long, flat glossy needles. Leaves are thick and wide, and rarely turn off-color in Southern Appalachian winters (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7). Clusters of 20 to 30 long flat needles are arranged like the spokes of a wheel or an umbrella. Needles are retained 3 or more years; the old needles shed and neatly pile up on the ground as mulch.<\/p>\n<p>Umbrella pine prefers one-half to full day sun planted in compost-rich, moist, well-drained, acidic soil. Provide moderate afternoon shade against summer heat in zone 7. Umbrella pine is a fossil tree and has survived through geologic time to ward off disease or insect pests. Pruning is rarely a chore, perhaps to remove multiple leaders or a small dead twig.<\/p>\n<p>No two umbrella pines look alike and their growth rates are quite variable. Trees reach cone-bearing age in approximately 20 years. The 1-inch long flowers and 2-4 inch green cones are of little ornamental value. The shaggy reddish brown bark on a 25 year and older tree exfoliates in long narrow strips.<\/p>\n<p>Umbrella pine is not commonly sold garden centers and are expensive. \u2018Aurea\u2019 (gold needle), \u2018Mitsch Select\u2019 (dwarf), and \u2018Pendula\u2019 (weeping) forms are available from select e-commerce nurseries. Locate an umbrella pine where you achieve the best visual impact such as adjacent to a patio or deck.<\/p>\n<p>Not a true pine (<em>Pinus spp.<\/em>), umbrella pine is closely akin to yew (<em>Taxus spp.<\/em>). Its long flat needled leaves are found embedded in fossil rocks from prehistoric Europe, Canada and Greenland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) is an outstanding evergreen large shrub or medium-sized pyramidal tree. Initially, umbrella pine grows slowly, only 6 to 8 inches annually, but growth rate picks up after 4-5 years. A young 3-foot tall plant may reach 20 to 30 feet tall in 25 years and double that at maturity. Its leaves [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,778,674,800,604,853,551,843,601,729,630,7,1086,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10558,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5753\/revisions\/10558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}