On 17/10/06 15:01, in article
, "Mike Lyle"
wrote:


Sacha wrote:
On 17/10/06 00:21, in article ,
"Roger" wrote:

I have a great specimen of Pinus Maratima growing in my garden. I
grew it from seed from a cone which I brought back from the
southern area of Bordeaux.

It is now about 15 years old. I'm told that it is too far north
(I live in the central belt of Scotland) for it to produce
cones. Anyone here know if this information is accurate?

The cone from which the seed came from was 9" in length and 5"
across its broadest part. Give or take a quarter of an inch.

I don't know if this will help but an enquiry to them might. I got two
Pinus sylvestris from them and that's another name for Pinus maritima,
apparently.
http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/courses.html

Surely P. sylvestris is the Scots/Caledonian pine? Maritime is (it says
here) P. pinaster. One of my books says the maritime pine grows, as an
introduction, in the Highlands; but none says anything about its
failing to fruit there.

I looked it up and found them all lumped together on a couple of sites,
which wasn't very helpful. I think/hope the chap at agroforestry at
Dartington would be able to help the OP. But no, I couldn't see anything
about the age at which they fruit. However, some time ago, I did find a
site I'll hunt for again if I can, because it told me that our Pinus
montezuma tends to wait for 50 to 60 years to fruit and then dies quite soon
afterwards! As we reckon ours must be over 50 years old, I don't know
whether to hope it fruits soon, so that we see it and can reproduce it, or
whether to hope it keeps going for years longer!

You can expect cones from trees ten years old,
apparently; fifteen years is within the margin of error for this kind
of thing, but it could be a sign that, as a Med species, it's too far
north.

If Agroforestry don't know, the Edinburgh Bot. Gardens may have mature
specimens you can eyeball (and it's an excuse to visit a great place).

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/