Italian Stone Pine

Pinus pinea

“The Roman umbrella pine. Produces actual pine nuts. Grows in Texas.”

Every painting of the Italian countryside has this tree in it — flat-topped canopy on a long bare trunk, silhouetted against the sky. These are the pine nuts in your pesto. Drought-tolerant once established, handles alkaline soils, Zone 8–10. Slower than most pines but the shape it develops by year 20 is unlike anything else in a North American landscape. Plant it for the grandchildren. Plant it for the pesto.