With their dense greenery, year-round leaves and pleasant aroma, pine trees are popular landscape plants with a variety of uses. They are generally hardy, and many species can thrive in poor soil conditions, which would hinder many deciduous trees. Whether you want to use pines in the background to help establish an ambiance or feature one or two interesting specimens, evergreens will enhance your landscape.
Windbreak and Privacy Screen
Pine trees make an excellent windbreaks and privacy screens all year-round. While there are deciduous trees with denser foliage during the summer, pines and other evergreens keep their needles all year, creating an effective border and barrier.
Foundation planting is the collection of trees and shrubs near a house that make it look more welcoming and give it definition. While most foundation plants are at their best during one particular season when they bloom, pines and other evergreen plants and shrubs look good all year. Large pines look especially good standing like columns at the borders of a house, where they mark the borders like large, regal columns. They can also be used selectively to obscure rickety sheds or other unsightly views, or to provide a backdrop to more festive deciduous trees and flowers during the spring and summer.
Pine trees look good in the background as border and foundation trees, but they also do quite well taking center stage. Some, like the white pine, are capable of growing to heights of 100 feet or more, making them dramatic and imposing specimens. Others, like the Japanese red pine with its red-orange bark, have an interesting and distinctive appearance which make them a natural landscape focus. Many species of pine also train well, and can be shaped into nearly any design the gardener wishes.