"Digger" pines

Thank you, Kurt Mize, for the Muir observation and recognition of the
word "Digger" being a linguistic grenade. Up here in the Zone 7 "Digger
Pine Belt," as Sunset unfortuntely calls it, the Nisenan Maidu  people
were the indigenous folks that 1850s  gold miners termed "Diggers." Kurt
gave a good explanation why that term was coined. Anyway, it's
definitely a no-no name for the people or the tree. It wouldn't dare
publish it.

The tree, by the way, would be interesting long-term project for a new
garden, especially a gray- or silver-colored garden. If the gray pine is
already there, hopefully it's not too close to a path or structure. It
drops massive, heavy, round cones that have large, sharp hooks at the
cone scale tips. Ouch! if it lands on your car or cat. It also drops a
lot of sticky pitch. 
The trees are dominant in vast tracks of serpentine rock/soil in and
around Grass Valley and Nevada City, as well as most of the Sierra
foothill chaparral region. The trees seem to favor hot/cold, windy
ridgetops and rocky canyons. Many of these areas were deforested and
mined in the 19th century. The gray pine re-established itself easier
than its pine and oak predecessors. Their companions are manzanita and
ceonothus. They have a survival advantage in this harsh exposure — lack
of competition from other trees, particularly oaks.  
The gray pine would probably grow quickly in the fairly arid California
coastal region, but wouldn't be a desireable shape (tall and round) for
20 years at least.  The branches are upright in youth, and slightly
twisted and more thinly branched than a Monterey pine. However,
according to Bowers (see below), "When planted for ornament in rich,
cultivated soil, the foliage becomes much stouter and thicker, giving
the tree an entirely different aspect from one grown in its dry, native
habitat; the cones of such cultivated trees are much smaller..."  

Besides "Sabin's pine," some other  common names for Pinus Sabiniana
include: "ghost pine," "gray pine," "bull pine," "squaw pine," nut
pine," "grayleaf pine" and "blue pine." [ref: "Cone-bearing Trees of the
Pacific Coast," by Nathan Bowers, Pacific Books, 1942.]

Thanks, too, for the freeze damage reports. Mine is coming soon ... You
guys in the SF Bay Area were chilled more than I, because my knolltop
garden is warmed by the Sacramento Valley  warm-air inversion. Sorry
about everyone's losses. Can't mess with (or predict) Mother Nature.

Paul Harrar
Nevada City, CA
Yuba River Watershed
Zone 7, 2,700 ft.
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