Illustration
Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine
Pinus scopulorum
Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine
Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 3–7. Expect it to reach about 75 ft tall and 28 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 15 years (a house reading).
Pets
- Not yet checked for pets.
Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.
No toxicity note is on file for Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.
What was checked
Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.
When to plant Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine
Plant Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine in spring once the soil is workable, or by very early fall at the latest: an evergreen needs its roots down well before the ground freezes. In zone 5, the middle of its hardy zones 3 to 7, that is April to June, or August on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 5, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 5 in April. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine get?
75 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult28 ftwideSee Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Give Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine about 28 ft of clear ground in every direction, measured from its center. It is one plant with room around it, not a row, and a raised bed is too small for it.
Add Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Where these facts come from
Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags were checked against 8 published sources on November 5, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources. Bloom was checked as well: Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine bears no flowers, so there is no bloom window for a source to carry.
- evergreennurseryco.comEvergreen Nursery Companyheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags
- NC State Extensionheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun and trait tags
- csfs.colostate.eduColorado State Forest Service, Colorado State Universitywater and trait tags
- fieldguide.mt.govMontana Natural Heritage Program, Montana Field Guideheight and trait tags
- Missouri Botanical Gardenheight and sun
- RHSRoyal Horticultural Societyheight and sun
- conifers.orgThe Gymnosperm Database, Christopher J. Earleheight
- naturalresources.extension.iastate.eduIowa State University Extensionheight
How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.
Where it grows wild
Native to 9 states
United States: Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.
Explore similar plants
You might also like
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
FoliageDesign a garden with this
Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.