Slow-growing, columnar evergreen with upward-turning branches. The narrow, pyramidal habit is ideal for small landscape settings. Evergreen foliage provides year-round color and pine cones add seasonal interest. Exceptionally tolerant to winter winds and cold; Swiss Stone Pine is native to the mountainous regions of Central Europe and prefers climates with cool summers.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay and nutritionally poor soils.
Removal of the lower branches of Arolla pine is a serious mistake, and, if healthy, they should be retained to the base. Pruning or disbudding can be intelligently performed to add much to the natural symmetry. The extraction or removal, early in spring, of the central or terminal bud, will tend to compel the branches which start from the side buds to spread apart and form a much denser growth. Cutting back the previous year's terminal growth to a strong bud or branchlet on the main limbs over the tree, if the plant is inclined to be thin in its branching, always produces a much denser lateral growth.