Turkish Pine Pinus brutia

Turkish pine comes out of the eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey and the Aegean, and it behaves accordingly. Expect an evergreen conifer with an open, somewhat irregular crown that broadens with age, reddish-grey bark, and long needles held in pairs that give it a softer, greener look than the darker European pines. It is closely related to Aleppo pine and often mistaken for it in older plantings. In Australian gardens it earns its place as a windbreak, a rural driveway tree and a feature for large dry sites.

Limestone, salt wind and the soil that kills it

Full sun, low water once established and a moderate rate of growth make it a straightforward tree on the sites it likes. Poor sandy ground, limestone and alkaline soil are no obstacle, and it handles coastal exposure, heat and long dry summers of the kind that finish off softer conifers. Waterlogged clay is the failure mode, and it is not a slow decline. Roots sitting in ground that stays wet through winter rot, the needles go dull and then brown from the inside of the crown outward, and by the time it is obvious the tree cannot be saved. If your soil is heavy, plant on a raised mound or choose something else, and never plant it in a lawn area that gets regular irrigation. Size and litter rule it out of small gardens as well. Needle and cone drop is constant, the root plate spreads wide, and it wants room on all sides rather than a spot against a fence line. In a windbreak row, set the trees far enough apart that each keeps its lower limbs, because a crowded line loses its skirt and stops doing the job it was planted for.

The evergreen alternatives, and where a pine wins

Sydney Red Gum covers similar ground as a large evergreen for acreage, but it wants sharp drainage in sandstone country rather than limestone, and it sheds bark and limbs rather than needles. Nettle Tree handles dry compacted sites too, though it is deciduous and gives no winter shelter at all. A pine is the pick when the job is a windbreak, because an evergreen conifer breaks wind year round and a bare deciduous crown does not. Take Turkish pine for exposed, alkaline, coastal or inland dry sites where shelter matters more than fine detail, take the angophora if the soil is sandy and acidic and you want a native, and take nettle tree where summer shade over a hard surface is the whole brief. See the rest of the conifers for tighter or smaller forms.

Lower limbs, and why you never cut into bare wood

Pines do not reshoot from bare wood, so every cut is permanent. Remove lower limbs only if you need clearance, take them one whorl at a time over several years, and cut in late winter or early spring before the new candles extend. Never top a pine or shorten the leader, since the result is a permanently disfigured crown and weak replacement leaders. Feeding is rarely needed. On poor sand, a light application of complete fertiliser in spring helps a young tree through its first few years, after which it looks after itself. Rake the needle drop off paths if it is a nuisance, or leave it under the canopy as mulch.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 45L, at $279.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to choosing a tree for a small backyard.