Growing Loblolly Pine in Indiana (Pinus taeda)

Loblolly Pine is one of many Pine trees in the Southern Pine family native to the Southern US. Loblolly Pine is considered the most cold hardy of the Southern Pines. It is hardy to -10°F with reports of it surviving slightly colder with severe winter damage. Hardy in zones 6-9(10). Personally I have witnessed them as far north as Terre Haute, Bloomington, and Columbus Indiana. I live on the North side of Indianapolis and have never seen one in the city itself and points north, as it very well may be too cold. I have seen a few Loblolly Pines turn almost completely brown in Southern Indiana with polar outbreaks, but apparently the buds for the following season are unharmed and the tree survived. In Southern Indiana it virtually never gets below -10°F, but Indy North on very rare occasions does get down to -15°F to -20°F. January, 2014 was notable. -15°F in Indianapolis -20°F in Hamilton County (county just North of Indianapolis) -15°F to -20°F may kill even an established mature specimen. Bloomington Indiana for example reached -10°F at the coldest point likely damaging any Loblolly Pine, but mature speciemens may survive. If any Loblolly Pines were present north of Indianapolis they would have likely died from the cold in 2014. Another Polar Vortex occured last year in 2019, it didn't extend as far South as the 2014 outbreak though. It got to -10°F in Indy, -15°F in Hamilton County, and negative Single Digits over Southern Indiana, likely causing little to no harm on Loblolly Pines in Southern Indiana. Though I did notice Winter burn on Loblolly Pines while I was down near Columbus at the time.


With my observations and research Loblolly Pine should be fully hardy to temps between -5°F to -10°F with only some damage, and anything colder than -10°F may kill it if temps are not extremely brief or are heavily protected. If you are going to plant one in a zone 5, you must place it in a heavily protected spot from winter winds for best results. Michael A. Dirr has stated in his book Manual of Woody Landscape Plants that he has seen it as far North as Central Illinois, but it was barely surviving with regards to severe winter damage. Central Illinois is as Far North as Indianapolis. His observations correlate with mine. 🌲