Exploring the 2.88 miles of Loveland’s pine tree streets

All pines are conifers, but all conifers are not pines; and further, all pines make cones, but all cones are not “pine cones.”

Such details swirled through my mind as I walked Loveland’s streets named for kinds of trees, what I call “tree streets.”

The cone-bearing shrubs and trees go by the collective descriptive name “conifers.” This plant assemblage subdivides into six discrete families of which the Pine Family includes the most species with over 225 but fewer than 250. The uncertainty is because experts disagree.

This group includes cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches and spruces; but with about 113-115 species the pines account for almost half the family’s total diversity.

About 37 pines naturally grow wild in North America, but only six of those species grow wild in Colorado: bristlecone pine, limber pine, lodgepole pine, pinyon pine, ponderosa pine and southwestern white-pine. Each pine species has its own story.

Bristlecones can live well over 2,000 years, including a few here in Colorado. Limbers grow wingless seeds that several birds and mammals eat. Lodgepole became vital fencing material in the late 1800s, and it is ecologically adapted to fires and quickly sprouts anew after the flames pass.

Pinyons produce seeds that people can and do eat. Ponderosas became a vital lumber source in the mining and settlement days of the 1800s. The southwestern white-pine possesses no attributes that make it valuable to people.

Fifteen of our tree streets are named for pines, but I eliminated three — Austrian Pine Lane, Ponderosa Drive, Ponderosa Place — for being outside city limits. I spent about one minute short of an hour and a half walking the 2.88 miles of the other 12 tree streets.

By cultural quirk of naming things, only three of those 12 tree streets are named for trees that actually grow wild in Colorado. But I found no limber pines on Limber Place, no lodgepole pines on Lodge Pole Place and no pinyon pines on Pinyon Place.

Granted, specimens of these trees could have been growing in backyards; but after my Freddy Krueger experience on White Elm Drive last autumn, I have been limiting my viewing to front yards!

I did find one mugho pine on Mugho Place and one Scotch Pine in a side yard on Scotch Pine Court.

I also found nine Austrian pines, one pinyon pine and four mugho pines on Whitebark Place though I found no whitebark pines.

Nor did I find any jack pines on Jack Pine Place, knobcone pines on Knobcone Drive, pitch pines on Pitch Pine Court, Torrey pines on Torrey Pine Place, yellow pines on Yellow Pine Place or shortleaved pines on Shortleaf Court.

Despite the lack of namesake trees on these tree streets, I did notice a lot of Austrian, pinyon and Scotch pines. All three rank among the top 10 most common yard trees in town, just not particularly on the streets named for them.

The absence of namesake trees probably freed my mind to contemplate details like spruce trees don’t make pine cones — they make spruce cones!

More tree streets and tree street stories yet to come!