Need to tell the difference between a Pine and a Fir? How does a Hemlock differ from a Yew?
There are so many wonderful varieties of Evergreen Trees around! Sometimes when you are out for a walk, you may find yourself referring to all of them as just Pine Trees. Understandably, the layman arborist may not be able to tell each type apart!
Check out Part 1 of a series where Nature Hills explains what makes the Pine Tree unique from the rest! This quick guide will help you identify and differentiate these easiest-to-recognize needle-bearing trees on the fly and know about the many different varieties available for your landscape!
The gorgeous and easiest-to-identify coniferous evergreen features a shaggy pyramidal to rounded profile with long, shaggy needle-like leaves. Their fluffy appearance and motion in the wind are the usual telltale signs from a distance.
Divided into Soft Pine and Hard Pine (depending on how strong the timber is), there are 126 species of Pinus are found throughout the world and the US has about 35 varieties. Adaptable to high elevations and poor soil, Pines prefer acidic well-drained environments.
Like most Conifers, these trees are monoecious and have separate male cones and female cones on the same tree. The pollen is wind-pollinate, blowing from one tree to the next. Typically the male cones are higher up on the tree than the female cones while wind and gravity does the rest.
New growth is held in prominent “candles” in the spring and is typically a lighter green to yellow! Arranged in tufts around the flexible stem like a rosette, with sections of bare, flexible stem dividing each years growth. Depending on the species – multiple needles (2, 3, or 5) are held in bunches on the stem.
White Pine has 5 needles per cluster (white has 5 letters!) compared to Red Pine which has three needles per cluster (red has three letters!)
Evergreen trees with fragrant bark have captivated gardeners and nature lovers for centuries. Their enticing aromas and everlasting greenery make them prized additions to landscapes worldwide. But which evergreen trees have the most fragrant bark? And what makes their bark so aromatic in the first place? This article uncovers the facts behind these intriguing trees.
Understanding Fragrant Bark
Unlike deciduous trees that shed their leaves seasonally, evergreens maintain their foliage year-round Evergreen trees with fragrant bark take it a step further by filling the air with tempting scents. These aromas originate from the tree’s cracked, furrowed, or peeling bark which releases fragrant oils
When the bark is damaged, the aromatics oils inside are exposed to open air. Warming action from the sun causes the oils to vaporize and waft into the surroundings. The bouquet of scents varies by tree species based on the type and potency of oils in the bark.
Trees disperse these fragrances as a defense mechanism against insects and fungi. The strong smells repel or intoxicate insects while inhibiting fungal growth As a result, evergreens with pungent bark gain protection We get to enjoy the aromas as a pleasant byproduct.
Most Fragrant Evergreen Trees
Red Cedar
The red cedar tree (Juniperus virginiana) is a top choice for fragrant evergreens. Its brown or reddish bark exudes an unmistakable aroma often described as warm, woody, or pencil-like. The scent comes from natural cedar oil in the bark. Red cedar oil contains potent compounds called cedrol and widdrol which give this tree its claim to fame.
Pine
Pines like Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) and white pine (Pinus strobus) have delightful fragrant properties. Their needles and bark emit a clean, fresh, piney scent when crushed or heated by the sun. Pine oil contains high levels of alpha-pinene and limonene which provide the quintessential pine aroma.
Fir
Fir trees like balsam fir (Abies balsamea) produce a lovely forest-like fragrance from their bark and needles. The strong, sweet, woodsy scent is thanks to beneficial compounds like bornyl acetate and pinene. Interesting fact: early Christmas trees were commonly firs due to their wintery aroma.
Laurel
Laurel trees like mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and California laurel (Umbellularia californica) have pungent camphor-like scents. The potent fragrance comes from chemicals called terpenes in their bark and leaves Laurol smells medicinal, spicy, and almost intoxicating.
Myrtle
Myrtle trees like the evergreen crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) emanate a clean, pleasant fragrance. Their bark, leaves, and flowers contain fragrant oils with a delicate, sweet, rose-like aroma. The scent is similar to eucalyptus due to a shared compound called cineole.
Other Fragrant Evergreens
Evergreen magnolias, rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, spruce, cypress, juniper, and yew also have naturally fragrant bark. Their signature scents make them prized for essential oils, perfumes, soaps, and aromatherapy.
Using Fragrant Evergreen Trees
There are many great ways to incorporate evergreens with aromatic bark into your surroundings:
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Plant near walkways or patios where scents can be enjoyed.
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Use as specimen trees, privacy screens, or living fences.
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Add to outdoor rooms, meditation gardens, or relaxation areas.
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Allow space between trees so fragrance can circulate.
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Pair with foliage plants that release scent when brushed.
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Crush small amounts of leaves or bark to instantly fill the air.
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Try different tree varieties to enjoy a range of scents.
Caring for Fragrant Evergreens
A few tips will keep your fragrant evergreens healthy and performing at their aromatic best:
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Choose the right tree for your climate and growing conditions.
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Plant in well-draining soil with adequate sun exposure.
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Water new trees regularly until their root system is established.
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Apply mulch around trees to conserve moisture and reduce weeds.
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Prune strategically to encourage air flow, light penetration, and new growth.
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Monitor for pests like bark beetles that can damage fragrant bark.
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Avoid over-pruning branches or damaging bark to preserve aromas.
Relaxing Benefits
Beyond sheer enjoyment, trees with aromatic bark offer science-backed benefits:
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Evergreen scents are calming, reducing anxiety, depression, and stress.
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Inhaling evergreen odors lowers heart rate and blood pressure.
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Terpenes from bark act as anti-inflammatory agents in the body.
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Tree chemicals can boost mood, creativity, and concentration.
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Natural aromas stimulate the senses for an awakening effect.
Let an evergreen infuse your surroundings with tranquility. Simply being near one of these fragrant trees can inspire relaxation.
A Lasting Impression
Evergreen trees with fragrant bark create a lasting sensory impression with their irresistible scents. Their aromatic oils offer an ancient, natural defense that we now experience as a wonderful fragrance bonus. Give your landscape an intoxicating makeover by planting one of these scented evergreens. A tree that looks beautiful and smells divine is a true standout.
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Charlotte Weidner | March 7, 2024
Need to tell the difference between a Pine and a Fir? How does a Hemlock differ from a Yew?
There are so many wonderful varieties of Evergreen Trees around! Sometimes when you are out for a walk, you may find yourself referring to all of them as just Pine Trees. Understandably, the layman arborist may not be able to tell each type apart!
Check out Part 1 of a series where Nature Hills explains what makes the Pine Tree unique from the rest! This quick guide will help you identify and differentiate these easiest-to-recognize needle-bearing trees on the fly and know about the many different varieties available for your landscape!
The gorgeous and easiest-to-identify coniferous evergreen features a shaggy pyramidal to rounded profile with long, shaggy needle-like leaves. Their fluffy appearance and motion in the wind are the usual telltale signs from a distance.
Divided into Soft Pine and Hard Pine (depending on how strong the timber is), there are 126 species of Pinus are found throughout the world and the US has about 35 varieties. Adaptable to high elevations and poor soil, Pines prefer acidic well-drained environments.
Like most Conifers, these trees are monoecious and have separate male cones and female cones on the same tree. The pollen is wind-pollinate, blowing from one tree to the next. Typically the male cones are higher up on the tree than the female cones while wind and gravity does the rest.
New growth is held in prominent “candles” in the spring and is typically a lighter green to yellow! Arranged in tufts around the flexible stem like a rosette, with sections of bare, flexible stem dividing each years growth. Depending on the species – multiple needles (2, 3, or 5) are held in bunches on the stem.
White Pine has 5 needles per cluster (white has 5 letters!) compared to Red Pine which has three needles per cluster (red has three letters!)
- Needle bunches are held to the stem by a papery sheath called a fascicle
- Flaky reddish-brown bark, texture varies between species
- Very resinous and lots of sap drips when damaged
Not just for the squirrels and making craft projects out of! Many songbirds rely on the winged seeds hidden among the scales of the Pine cone.
- Male cones produce pollen then fall off in the spring
- Mature female cones can have a sharp spike at the end of each cone scale
- Female cones have very hard scales and only open in some conditions and humidity
- Other varieties only open when exposed to fire
- Typically hang down from the branches
- Pines typically have sharp pointed spikes on the cone scales
Male cones can be yellow to tan, sometimes reddish, and are held in clusters in the spring. While the female seed-bearing cones are long and slender for the most part.
- Largest Pine cones – Sugar and Coulter Pines have 2-foot-long cones
- Bristlecone Pine has the smallest cones
- Aptly named Longleaf Pine can have 18-inch long needles
- Shortleaf Pine has needles 3-5 inches long
- A Bristlecone Pine called the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) is the oldest living organism on earth – at an estimated age of 4,850 years old!
- Roughly 4,600 years old, Methuselah is another Great Basin Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains of California
- The tallest Pine tree is 268.35 feet tall and found in Oregon
- Typical life span is 100 years or more
- Most Pines live in the Northern Hemisphere except for the Sumatran Pine
- Turpentine is made by distilling high-terpene resin, which is abundant in Pine trees
- The resin is also used to treat insect bites, burns, and blisters
- The needles can be steeped as tea for a high Vitamin C boost!
- Pine nuts (Pinola nuts) are a favorite Mediterranean food addition. Get yours from Pinyon Pines.
Types of Pine Trees!
Bird-friendly, wildlife safe-havens, and so useful, the needles, bark, timber, pinecones, and seeds all have a use in our day-to-day lives! Not to mention the fast shade, curb appeal, and mighty legacies these ornamentals have on our landscapes!
Nature Hills has many types of gorgeous native Pines for you to choose from!
The native Eastern White Pine tree is a hardy evergreen native to eastern North America. It is long-lived, fast-growing and vigorous. One of the most magnificent soft-needled White Pine features regular arrangements of long, bluish-green needles in bundles of five. Youll love running your hands along the foliage! The curved pine cones are used for birdseed and seasonal décor.
Want an Eastern White Pine but have no room?
- Check out the Blue Shag Eastern White Pine with blue-green needles and dwarf 2-4 foot tall and wide growth!
- The cultivar Tiny Kurls Eastern White Pine has unique contorted, twisting, curvy needles and grows just 3 – 6 feet tall and a bit wider!
Either of these unique cultivars can be easily made into Bonsai or planted in containers on the front porch or back patio!
The fat and fluffy Austrian Pine has strong evergreen branches that will screen undesirable views, reduce sound pollution, and protect your home from strong winds. Its year-round good looks are a bonus! Fast-growing, this dark green variety, also known as the European Black Pine, can add 3 feet or more of new growth in a season in optimal conditions. These are fantastic evergreens for urban roadways and interchanges. They are salt tolerant and able to withstand dry conditions. The 5-6″ long needles absorb a lot of noise and vibrations and are good plants to include along sound barriers. Cones start as conical green and hang down or in clusters, opening to brown 4-6 inch cones with pointed scales.
The Scotch Pine, also known as Scots pine, is a fast-growing, conical to columnar, medium-sized conifer with distinctive flaking orange to red-brown bark. Once common and popular across the Midwest, until a blight began taking a toll on local populations. The pyramid form and gray-green color complement any landscape. This is one of the most cold-hardy and easy-going of all evergreens. It tolerates any soil and especially loves sandy or clay soils. It is a hardy tree that grows rapidly for a Pine tree and tolerates prolonged drought. Scotch Pine practically thrives on neglect! Cones can be 1-2 inches long and are often rounded.
Need a cute dwarf version that can replace sometimes tricky Alberta Spruce? Try the Green Penguin Dwarf Scotch Pine! Or try the regal dark blue-green French Dark Green Scotch Pine.
The formidable Ponderosa Pine is one of the tallest growing Pines, sometimes called the Western Yellow Pine or Bull Pine, Ponderosa tops out at up to 80 feet on average. The Ponderosa Pine is the most frequently planted of the large, long-needled native Pines. The soft dark green needles are 6-10 inches long, arranged in bundles of three, with cones that can reach 3 to 5 inches long. Ponderosa will grow on most soils including very sandy soils and sites with very little topsoil. A major source of timber, this large evergreen can live 300 to 600 years. Ponderosa Pine develops a taproot early in life that enables the tree to survive stressful conditions such as extended drought.
The southern giant Loblolly Pine tree is hardy throughout USDA planting zones 6 to 9 and is a fast-growing, straight-as-an-arrow tree that handles growing in most soils, including wet, acidic, and clay! Sometimes referred to as a Bull Pine for its massive size (60 – 80 feet), the resinous needles are 6-10 inches long and have a fantastic fragrance, which is why its also nicknamed Rosemary Pine. This makes a great choice if you need to create a fast screen or windbreak, and thrives in fire-prone areas. The large cones are elongated and tapering, almost egg-like, and can be 3-6 inches long with triangular spines at the ends of each scale.
A very fragrant, and easily recognizable tree, the Lodgepole Pine is a native with a perfectly vertical trunk and very narrow-growing canopy. The finer texture of the bark is very aromatic and the lumber has a long historical use because of its straight growth. The egg-shaped Pinecones can remain attached for 15-20 years, reach 1-3 inches, and appear in clusters. Also known as the Shore Pine, the needles are typically 1-3 inches long.
Similar to the Lodgepole, the Shore Pine (Pinus contorta var. contorta) is a mid-sized native along the western coast from Alaska to Northern California. Handling wind and salt spray, the name contorta var. contorta should indicate the Shore Pines contorted, twisting, wild form at maturity!
The aptly named Longleaf Pine is well known for its especially long needles. The 80 – 100 foot mature height of these trees can be a bit slow, but they grow in the southern USDA planting zones 7 to 9. Stick-straight Longleaf Pine trunks have a soft-textured canopy that sways back and forth in the slightest breeze. New growth buds appear silvery white and are particularly attractive in the winter landscape! Aging into incredibly long, dark green needles 8 to 17 inches in length! The cones reach 5 to 12 inches in length and have an elongated oval shape.
A cold-hardy Pine with a super straight trunk, the Red Pine (sometimes called Norway Pine) is a tall, straight, majestic tree that thrives in the Northern USDA planting zones 3 to 7! It self-prunes and drops dead branches as it grows, giving mature trees a nice clean trunk as it grows older. These are perfect trees for windbreaks on large properties or for a year-round green in hard winter places. The gray flaky bark has a rusty hue and the needles are held in clusters of three. Growing 4 to 6 inches long, the needles break instead of bending. The cone is rounded to egg-shaped and around 2 inches long.
The Single-Needle Piñón Pine another native to high elevations in the southwestern US, the Piñón or Pinyon Pine is a mid-sized tree with fragrant resin and wood to perfume your landscape with the aroma of the Southwest. The thick trunk and gray-green to strongly waxy pale blue-green 1-2 inch long needles remain on the plentiful branches for many years. The Single-Needle only has one needle per fascicle and sweeps upward like a Concolor Fir. Young trees feature a compact, oval shape that eventually opens up a bit in form. Producing brown, rose-shaped cones that produce healthy, valuable, edible pine nuts in the fall. Press for oil, or add to pesto, salads, baked goods, and as a resinous flavor in sauces and savory dishes! If you don’t eat them, the wildlife and birds will!
11 Great Fragrant Trees For Your Landscape ️
FAQ
What is an evergreen tree with a fragrant bark?
Cinnamon Bark Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Cinnamon is derived from a tropical, evergreen tree that grows up to 45 feet high and has highly fragrant bark, leaves, and flowers. Cinnamon has a long history of culinary uses, adding spice to desserts, entrees, and hot drinks.
What is the most fragrant evergreen tree?
Southern Magnolia
This beautiful evergreen tree has huge white blooms that smell wonderful. The scent is sweet and lemony.
What evergreen tree has a good smelling wood?
In terms of New York State favorites, the firs—Douglas, balsam, and Fraser—are very popular aromatic evergreens. Grand and concolor fir smell great too. When kept in water, firs all have excellent needle retention.
What tree has scented bark?
Eucalyptus aromaphloia, commonly known as Creswick apple-box, scented bark or scent-bark, is a species of plant in the myrtle family that is endemic to Victoria.