Special features & uses: wildlife favorite, evergreen, and medicinal.In Oregon, we usually associate them with the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains - but there is a Willamette Valley variety more suitable to our local ecosystem. Native habitat/range: Common on hillsides and gravelly floodplains, often mixed with oaks or other conifers from t he west, from British Columbia to California and Montana to Mexico from 50m - 1700m.Large pines provide excellent sites for roosting and nesting small pines provide good cover for many animals. The foliage and bark is eaten by grouse, deer, and porcupines. The needles are the only known food of the caterpillars of the gelechiid moth Chionodes retiniella and are a favorite material for making nests. Plus, it is a caterpillar host plant and larval food source for many species of butterflies and moths. The nutritious, oily seeds are food for chipmunks, squirrels, crossbills, grosbeaks, jays, nuthatches, chickadees, and woodpeckers. They attract and support hummingbirds, beneficial insects, pest eating insects, and countless species of birds and mammals. Wildlife support: Pines are extremely valuable wildlife trees, rivaling oaks.

Growth rate/ease: fast growth rate, easy to grow.Moisture requirements: dry soil, preferably well-drained.Plant type/canopy layer: large, evergreen tree.benthamiana), which have been shown to be more resilient to the wet winters of the Willamette Valley versus seed sources from central Oregon ( Pinus ponderosa var. The Ponderosa pine trees sourced by Sparrowhawk Native Plants are from native seed sourced from the Willamette Valley ( Pinus ponderosa var. It’s iconic bark is dark gray on young trees, then becomes cinnamon-colored and scaly over time, resembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and faintly smelling of vanilla when warmed by the sun. Ponderosa pine is a highly attractive conifer with a broad, spreading form, and attractive long needles.