Pinus Pinea Silver Crest is a perennial outdoor shrub native to the Mediterranean and belonging to the Pinaceae family. It is an evergreen conifer that can reach great heights in the wild, but when cultivated it remains fairly compact and has an umbrella-shaped crown; the trunk is variously branched from below and has needle-like leaves of around 10 cm in length, silver-green in colour with a balsamic scent. It blossoms in late spring, producing orange flowers followed by cone-shaped, green cones. When fully ripe, the colour changes to dark brown and in warm weather they tend to open, releasing numerous seeds. It is a shrub that does not tolerate low temperatures, but due to its compact shape and the particular reflections of its foliage it is suitable for cultivation as an ornamental tree both in the garden and in containers; it prefers to be placed in places in direct contact with sunlight with good adaptability in mid-shade. For a luxuriant growth, a good universal soil is recommended to favour drainage and to avoid stagnations, while watering must be constant so that the substrate does not dry out too much.
