Norfolk Island pine

How to identify a Norfolk Island pine

Look for a straight single trunk with flat, evenly spaced tiers of branches, which gives young trees a neat, symmetrical Christmas-tree outline. Older trees turn narrower and less regular, and their branches start to droop. The bark is dark and flaky. Each branchlet is wrapped in tiny overlapping scale leaves, so the shoots look like soft green cords, while young trees carry narrow, curved leaves about 1 cm long. Rounded cones up to about 12 cm long sit upright on the top branches. Bunya pine has sharp, prickly leaves and much bigger cones, and the similar Cook pine keeps roughly the same width for most of its height instead of tapering.

Growing a Norfolk Island pine in Brisbane

Norfolk Island pines have been planted along the South East Queensland coast for close to a century, and some on the Gold Coast date from the 1930s. They handle sandy or poor soils, salty wind and light frost. A Griffith University researcher found Gold Coast pines hemmed in by roads, car parks and paving were in worse shape than those growing in groups. In a suburban Brisbane yard, allow at least 10 metres from the house and keep it well clear of sewer lines and power lines.

What to watch out for

Size is the main issue. This tree can pass 30 metres in a garden, so it needs plenty of room away from houses, pools and wires. Hunter Water rates Norfolk Island pines as a very high risk to sewer pipes. Cones and dead branches fall from a great height, and stressed trees can shed limbs: a Western Australian council has dealt with old pines dropping branches and cones onto streets. Any work high in a tall pine is a job for a qualified arborist with the right gear.

• Size. It grows 20 to 35 metres tall in gardens and up to about 70 metres on Norfolk Island, so it needs a big site well clear of buildings.
• Falling cones. Female cones grow up to about 12 cm long high in the crown, and immature cones sometimes drop to the ground.
• Dropping limbs. Stressed or storm-hit trees can drop branches or blow over: after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in 2025, the City of Gold Coast found 50 of more than 250 pines it checked were unsafe.

Pruning and care

A Norfolk Island pine needs no regular pruning. Leave its tiered shape alone and only remove dead or broken branches. Young trees settle in best with some protection from strong sun and wind, such as shade cloth, until they are established. Water them through dry spells while young. After a severe storm, have an arborist check big trees for movement at the base: trunk and root plate movement is why dozens of Gold Coast pines were condemned after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

• Tree removal
• Tree pruning
• Stump grinding
• Storm damage cleanup
• Tree health assessment