Pinus taeda "Garden Treasures Gems" is a compact, evergreen large shrub with long, needlelike leaves. Pinus taeda "Garden Treasures Gems" has an interesting history. It started in 1964 when seeds were collected (with use of a shotgun) from a witches' bloom on a loblolly pine growing in Virginia. Some of these seedlings were dwarf and several ended up planted on the main campus of NCSU and at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC. Dr. Dennis Werner found viable seeds on one of these trees at the JCRA in approximately 2000 and found several seedlings that were dwarf. Dr. Werner gave me 3 of the more dwarf seedlings roughly 20 years ago and they are all happily growing in my garden. In 2022, Jason Burris (our research and development guy) found a few small cones on one of our trees. Cones were very small and only had a few viable seeds in each cone. Jason spent long hours removing the seeds from the cones since the cones would not open naturally as they do on regular loblolly pines and was able to germinate several hundred plants. Amazingly roughly half the seedlings were dwarf or semi dwarf. We are only selling the most compact of the seedlings as "Garden Treasures Gems". Pinus taeda "Garden Treasures Gems" is a GARDEN TREASURES EXCLUSIVE NEW RELEASE and is EXTREMELY RARE and will slowly make a stunning specimen in your garden and grows best in full sun. Every plant will be slightly different since they are all seedlings. We are very excited to be able to offer these seedlings to you and hope you enjoy them as much as we do! The plants we are currently offering are 3 year old seedlings and would benefit from having their roots gently loosened up when you plant them. HARDINESS: zones 6-9 EXPOSURE: sun SIZE: 10'+ tall and wide. SHIPPING SIZE: 1/2 gallon container. 12"+ plant.
