No one suggested Pinus palustris. I'm also at the Jersey Shore at the southern end. I planted this tree as a seedling in 2000. It came from Fairweather Gardens who said it was of VA provenance. It's close to 20' right now and amazingly beautiful. It's far better looking than the pic from the natl arboretum. No cones so far but it's stunning and the only one in town (Cape May). Pinus palustris is used in planters outside the Philadelphia convention center! Here is a link that might be useful: Pinus Palustris in Washington DC

you can NOT drive large machines for building houses.. over the root zone of large trees .. they will eventually die from soil compaction ... but in tree years.. that might be 5 or 10 years down the line. .. so there is little use in saving older ones .. too near to the construction ... so unless someone can define the driving area.. and your contractor will abide by such.. you will be severely limited as to what is useful to save ... i live in MI.. plain old green pines.. not the foo foo ones.. grow 3 to 5 feet per year ... when you start with a 2 -3 year old bare root ... and give them a year or two to get 'established' [and that includes PROPER AFTERCARE] .... and will easily outgrow.. a 5 to 8 foot transplant.. in the first 5 years.. its all about transplant shock ... frankly.. there are NO SLOW PINES ... if i were you.. i would mark out the building area.. and the access driveway ... mark that out.. remove everything nearby.. and one of the tree pro's will have to delineate that distance for you [they can confirm scot above] .. and stake and police tape it all off.. it will look rather comical during construction ... and then perhaps.. expect to lose a few more ... and it is actually good.. because you dont really want dying trees falling on your new house.. and that would be the beauty of planting new.. nearer to the house ... the death rate of moving 20 footers would be extreme.. even if you paid the best of the biz to move them.. its not a DIY type thing IMHO .... and i bet it would cost tens of thousands of dollars ... in theory.. anything can be done.. its just budget and las vegas odds ... or extreme heavy labor [like that one guy at the link .. if you use the search in GW.. you might find his other posts by searching his GW name] .... which is not my game.. but maybe its yours ... now.. if you were doing a log cabin.. and were going to do it with a horse to drag in logs.. with no basement.. maybe we can save more ... but you didnt give us any facts in that regard.. so we are left to ponder large machines.. etc... so.. ID and remove what must be done to ease construction .... and when you get to landscaping.. get back to us.. and list options on stock.. and probably providers ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Cuddy, That's a tough loss. How many are you having shipped this go-round? Your pic indicates a high desert climate. What's your annual precip and have you had a soil test done? Austrian pine are not particularly xeric, especially when establishing. I tried something similar last year on a much smaller scale, with Doug fir, Ponderosa and Pinon pine. They were seedlings I potted up into 1 gallons in Tapla's mix, then buried in a holding area. We had a cold snap in April that froze tulips, followed by 104 degrees the first week of June. I lost all but one Ponderosa seedling. I found it very difficult to accurately monitor the moisture in the pots and compensate for the drying winds and altitude.. Lesson learned for me was to not order more at one time than I can plant in ground and properly care for. I do think the plants coming from different climates than mine had an impact, too. Is there a county extension service in your area that sells seedlings? That would be a great place to start finding the right trees for your area. If the plants are coming anyway, I would skip the potting and plant them in ground. Better luck to you this time!

Enjoyed your story and pics! Too bad your scarlet snake was a DOR. I am always impressed with your pics. That was a really cool post you had a while back with pics of the red milks you found this year. I always look at your backgrounds. Elephant ear leaves, old boards, moss covered rocks. Some of those really make the snake stand out. I don't think everyone realizes how difficult it is to get a snake to cooperate sometimes!