Evergreen trees that produce cones are called conifers. There are more than 600 species of conifers — which include pines, firs and spruce — each with its own type and size of cones.

Softwood conifers include pine, spruce, fir, and cedar trees. But despite the name, wood hardness varies among the conifer species. Some softwoods are actually harder than certain hardwoods.

Pine cone fragments are neatly arranged in a circle around the squirrel’s perch. Synchronized conifer masting cycles — or the yearly variation in the number of cones produced — vary by species.

That high density can result in eastern white pine overtaking an area and excluding other trees species. But the high pine cone volume contributing to the phenomenon covering the ground now is ...

Know how to ID a red pine tree. Red pines have craggy, reddish bark and 4- to-6-inch needles that grow in bundles of two. Scotch and Austrian pine cones, which have some similarities, will not be ...

The children were part of the Capitol Junior Rangers program, a statewide initiative for children aged 7 to 12 to learn about ...

Cones become more egg shaped as the scales begin to open up once off the tree. Scotch pine, which grows to between 25 and 60 feet tall, is typically found on acidic, moist, well-drained soil. It ...

But for certain tree species, starting from seed allows you to produce lots of trees very economically. To start growing pine trees from seed, gather large brown (or slightly green) cones in the fall.

We had a mysterious pine tree not too long ago, and here is another. There’s always a new pine species that’s worth learning about. This one is growing in a small park not far from my house ...

The birds are key to distributing the tree’s seeds. The nutcrackers break open the pine cones, which grow attractively atop the trees so the birds can see them, and then hide the seeds in the ...