Get To Know Louie White Pine Tree - April 2025

The conifers are starting to show up at the nurseries and big box stores.  There's one orange big box store that always orders in some unique trees - including conifers.  Over the weekend, I popped in there to see what is already in-stock and saw a pair of yellow pine trees.  Hmmm...those are interesting.  

Here, below, is a photo showing these yellow pine trees.  They sure stand-out, don't they?

What are they?  According to the tag, these are Louie White Pine trees for $99.00.

Interesting, right?  Let's get to know the Louie White Pine. 

From Conifer Kingdom:

Gold decorates this outstanding Pinus strobus ‘Louie’ all year. In the cold of winter, the brilliant golden hue is brightest at the needle tips. In summer, needles change to a wonderful soft golden green, unlike other pines. Globose when young, the medium-sized tree develops a beautiful conical form.

"Medium-sized" tree.  I like that.  Not a dwarf, but not going to be a giant tree.  "Conical form".  Like, that, too.  

Horticulture Magazine has an article about the Louie Pine that includes this:

The white pine cultivar named 'Louie' is considered by many conifer growers to be the best of the yellow-needled versions of North America's native eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). Provided it grows in full sun, 'Louie' maintains its yellow color all year.

And they also give some advice on how to manage the size:

This tree is a fairly fast grower and it has the potential to become large, like the species. To keep it more compact, tip prune it annually once growth begins in spring. Also known as candle pruning, tip pruning a pine entails pinching back new growth at the tips of the branches (which resemble candles) before the needles begin to expand. Snip each candle back by a third or a half of its length.

So, you can manage the size - something I'm keen to do with conifers.  

The growers at Iseli Nursersery have a page up about the Louie (Pinus strobus 'Louie') and Wilson Brothers have this detail up - with some photos - about keeping it more compact:

...as some of our photos on this page show, it can be kept much narrower and/or dense with an annual candle pruning. A showy specimen in the sunny to mostly sunny landscape that will not go unnoticed!

Here, below, is one of the Wilson Brothers photos:

Via Wilson Brothers (Source)

Is this a tree that I should add to the front yard?  Or, maybe backyard around the patio or near the Pizza oven project.  I'm sure tempted.