The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: Blue mugo pine, Blue Swiss mountain pine

Family: Pinaceae (pine family)

Distribution: Species native to Europe

Hardiness: USDA Zone 3

Life form: Evergreen shrub

Comments: A compact evergreen growing as a dense, globe-shaped shrub, to 8' tall and wide. Needles are 1-2" in length with superior blue-green color in winter becoming lighter green in summer. Cones are born terminally, 1-3" long. Bark is gray to brown and scaly. A rare selection unavailable in the trade, but useful in dwarf conifer beds or as an accent plant in the shrub border. Subject to pine needle scale and sawfly damage, but otherwise quite adaptable to urban conditions.