Mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) are native to the western United States and have devastated forests in the region.
Historically, these beetles played a beneficial role by feeding on dying trees and accelerating decomposition.
With more drought and higher temperatures, they’ve become a serious problem.
In your own garden, they’re a bit easier to get a handle on, especially if you give your trees a good once-over every few months.
Signs include the presence of quarter-inch black beetles, red sawdust (frass) at the tree base or in bark crevices, and yellowing needles.
If you see any of these signs, try peeling away some bark and look for white larvae or their galleries. They typically only infest wood that’s at least five inches in diameter
The adults lay eggs in the spring. The hatched larvae tunnel into the tree under the bark, where they feed and overwinter. They emerge in the spring to lay eggs, and the cycle begins anew.
Killing the pests can be a challenge because the larvae are protected under the bark. To be effective, you’ll need to take a multi-pronged approach at the right time.
Arbico Organics carries packets containing five to 500 million live nematodes. Follow application instructions carefully to maintain nematode viability.
Disease
Healthy trees cultivated in appropriate conditions rarely develop diseases.
But overwatering, shady conditions, or excessive humidity can lead to these issues:
Root Rot
Excessively wet soil will inevitably lead to root root. These trees can’t handle wet feet at all.
If your bristlecone pine is exposed to wet conditions regularly, you’ll start to notice overall decline with falling needles and dying branches.
If you dig under the soil and look at the roots, they will be soft and dark.
Unfortunately, there’s little you can do. Stop all irrigation immediately – the tree may recover if damage isn’t severe, but there are no guarantees.
White Pine Blister Rust
The fungus Cronartium ribicola, introduced to North America from Asia in the early 1900s, causes a disease called white pine blight in many pine species.
The disease requires a plant in the Ribes genus to complete its life cycle.
That’s why some states have banned planting species like gooseberries and currants in the past. That’s how bad the disease can be.
One of my earliest memories involves planting a spruce tree.
We grew up in a very rural part of Pennsylvania, so when I say that my dad and I drove his pickup truck into the woods, I literally mean we drove his pickup truck into the woods.
He was on the search for a tree to plant in the front yard, and after a bit of hunting he found the one he wanted. Carefully digging it up from the ground, he placed it in the bed of the truck.
Excited me looked through the rear window at that tree, and I said, “Cool pine tree!”
My dad kept his eyes on… well, not on the road. I guess on the field… and he said to me, “That’s not a pine tree. It’s a spruce.”
From that point on, I became enthralled with identifying trees and plants – especially with noting the differences between pine, spruce, and fir trees.
The secret to becoming the equivalent of a human dichotomous key for conifer identification isn’t much of a secret.
A young pine (not a spruce!). Photo by Matt Suwak.
Like almost everything else in life, learning the difference between pine, spruce, and fir requires an investment of time and energy.
Luckily, this is one of the fastest lessons you can learn, and it pays back in surplus.
Yew. Photo by Matt Suwak.
In this article you can expect to see some pictures paired with descriptions and an organized approach examining the nuggets of information.
You’ll learn the steps to conifer identification in order of most to least helpful. Lastly, there will be a brief look at other conifers that are not pine, spruce, or fir.
Now, let’s get to it.
The First Step: Narrow It Down to the Needles
Without doubt, the most important information to identify whether a tree is pine, spruce, or fir is observed in the needles.
This is the most helpful and beneficial tool to add to your repertoire, and that’s why it’s first!
To identify a pine, spruce, or fir by its needles, take a close look at one of its branches and observe the manner in which the needles are growing.
Pine
These needles are especially unique among this trio of trees.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Always grow in clusters from a single origin point on a branch.
Are often sensually soft and tend to grow to greater lengths than other conifers.
Always grow in clusters of two (red pines), three (yellow pines), or five (white pines).
Can grow to be up to 16 inches long!
Photo by Matt Suwak.
The wind blows through pine needles with a characteristic and soothingly beautiful whooshing sound.
Spruce
Look closely at the needles and how they meet the stems to identify spruce trees.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Like my favorite cocktails, these needles tend to be short and stiff.
Unlike the needles of a pine, these tend to grow from a single origin point and are attached to small, stalk-like woody projections.
Needles are often square and can easily be rolled between fingertips when removed.
Fir
Fir tree needles are more similar to those of a spruce than a pine.
Needles are soft and flat.
Grow from a single point of origin like a spruce, but are attached to the branch in a manner resembling a suction cup.
When the needles are removed they do not leave behind a woody projection.
Tend to have two white stripes on the bottom of each needle.
So, let’s say you’re stuck in the field and are trying to identify what type of tree you are looking at.
The easiest way to figure that out is to observe the needles; only pine tree needles grow in clusters. At the very least, you can deduce whether a tree is pine or… something else.
Not a bad start!
The Second Step: Cones and Branches Further the Study
Although less definitive for identifying these three conifers, examining the cones and branches of a tree offers more helpful hints.
Pine
Pine branches tend to be upturned, though they are fewer in quantity than those found on spruce or fir trees.
These branches tend to grow from a single, circular area on the trunk. The cones often begin developing with a green color before turning reddish-brown or black.
When fully developed, the cones are stiff, woody, and inflexible. The developing cones hang towards the ground.
Spruce
Spruce branches tend to grow in an upturned direction.
The cones develop into a smooth and flexible shape with thin scales and they hang towards the ground.
Fir
Fir trees possess wide lower branches and develop into more of a downturned shape.
Fir tree cones forming in an upward orientation.
The cones can be purple, green, or blue before changing to a golden brown. Most notably, the cones grow upwards like candle flames.
That last point is an easily identifiable feature of fir trees, which is important to keep in mind!
Pine cone on the left, spruce cone on the right. Photo by Matt Suwak.
Although the branches of these three conifer trees do not have instantly identifiable characteristics, their cones can help more definitively in identification.
Just like a pine tree is unique in that its needles grow in clusters from a single origin point, a fir tree is unique in that its cones grow upward like candle flames.
The Third Step: Bark and Growth Habit
Here’s another piece to the puzzle: examining the bark and overall appearance of a healthy tree is an excellent addition to our identification key.
Pine
The bark of young pine trees tends to be smooth, growing flaky with age.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Pines have an open and rounded canopy that develops into a loose triangular pattern. These trees have been described as “jagged lollipops.”
Spruce
Spruce trees tend to develop rough and scaly bark because of the woody projections that hold the needles to the branch.
They typically grow into a “perfect” conifer shape. Ask a child to draw a Christmas tree, and they’ll give you a pretty good silhouette of a spruce!
Fir
The bark on young fir trees is usually smooth and gray, becoming furrowed with age.
Firs often develop into a tall and upright “classic” shape. The shape is similar to a spruce, but with a little more room between the branches.
It’s difficult to identify these trees based on the characteristics of bark and growth habit alone, but these features can be beneficial in further identifying a tree.
Which One Do I Want in My Landscape?
A question often ignored by identification keys pertains to why a tree is, or should be, growing in a certain area.
It can also lend aid towards identifying what tree you are examining, based off of the conditions and the location where it is growing.
Pine
When choosing a conifer for your landscape, pines have specific growing preferences that make them well-suited to certain conditions.
Tend to prefer well-drained soil and to receive lots of sun.
Like an acidic soil.
Fallen needles will raise the pH of the soil around the tree.
I find it wild to consider that very few of the guides I’ve examined give any attention to trees that look like they could be a pine, spruce, or fir, but are actually something else entirely.
If the tree you’re identifying doesn’t fit as a pine, spruce, or fir, it is probably one of these!
Hemlock
Hemlock trees have needles uniquely attached to the stem. It is similar to the stalk-like woody projections of a spruce but much finer.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Also, the needles of a hemlock are flattened.
Yew
More easily identified because yew tends to form small shrubs, they could be mistaken as fir trees because of their flat needles.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Unlike the fir, the yew needle is usually sharply pointed, with no white lines beneath it.
Cypress and arborvitae tend to develop flat, scaled needles and have rather flexible branches.
Bald cypress.
Junipers have short, spiky needles. You can read more about junipers and what makes them unique in our comprehensive growing guide.
Arborvitae.
The best way to decide if it’s a juniper is to grab a handful of foliage. If it hurts, it’s a juniper!
Cedar
Cedar needles tend to be fern-like and have a strong scent when rolled between your fingers.
The needles are similar to those of pine trees, except they are much shorter.
Blue Atlas cedar.
It’s also important to keep in mind with this particular type of conifer that naming conventions for plants can be confusing.
I’m still in the habit of referencing plants by their common name, but the only way to be truly accurate with the variety of plants out there is to use their Latin, or botanical, name.
All true cedars are in the family Pinaceae and are of Old World origin, in the genus Cedrus.
In the New World, early settlers discovered trees with the same properties of cedar (rot resistance and a pleasant smell) and decided that, hey, these trees must be cedars, too.
However, all New World trees we commonly call “cedar” are from the family Cupressaceae, often referred to as cypress.
We’re familiar with trees like Alaskan cedar and western red cedar, but they are cedars in name only.
True cedars have short, stiff needles, while the New World plants display characteristics more like juniper and arborvitae.
Wrapping Up
There we have it! Identifying pine, spruce, and fir trees can be a tricky business, but with a handy identification key like this at your disposal, it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.
Bookmark this page and visit it whenever you have a tree to identify.
And take this open invitation to send us pictures of any conifers you have difficulty identifying, in the comments section below.
Simply click on the camera icon below the comment box and you can upload up to three photos at a time.
In addition to your photo, please let us know what region you are in, whether the tree is in the wild or in your own backyard, and please give us as much detail about it as possible, such as how long the needles are.
I’ll get back to you as soon as possible with an answer!
If you enjoyed this guide, be sure to check out these other guides to growing conifers next:
Mugo pines (Pinus mugo) aren’t flashy, but these low-maintenance evergreens offer up reliable texture and color in the landscape with little help from the gardener.
In fact, depending on where you live, you might not even need to worry about watering or fertilizing them at all.
While your roses are flowering and fading, your trees are dropping their leaves in fall, and your garden is covered in snow, your mugo pines are looking as lovely as ever.
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.
In our guide to growing mugo pines, we discuss how to cultivate these versatile evergreens in your landscape. And they are available in far more shapes and sizes than most gardeners realize.
So whether you need an evergreen ground cover for a dry spot, or you want a tall, pyramidal option to anchor your garden, there’s a mugo pine out there that can make it happen.
All of them grow in a wide range of climates and can live for decades.
In this guide, we’ll introduce 23 of the best options whether you want to liven up a spot in your small backyard garden, accent a huge, bare grassy area, or fill in the hell strip in front of a strip mall.
Here’s the list:
Be aware as you head out to shop for these plants that they are sometimes listed as “mugho” pines.
They might also be sold under a generic species name, but the specifics of the shape and size might vary, so be sure to read the grower’s description.
For example, Nature Hills Nursery sells a specimen that grows to five feet tall and 10 feet wide, which isn’t typical of the species.
There’s nothing wrong with that, you just want to be sure you know what you’re planting.
It also helps to know if the plant you are selecting is a P. mugo subspecies. There are three subspecies of P. mugo, these are mugo, uncinata, and rotunda.
P. mugo subsp. mugo are shrubby and grow to about 20 feet tall over the course of about 10 years, P. mugo subsp. uncinata are more tree-like and reach up to 60 feet or more over 20 years.
P. mugo subsp. rotunda is a natural hybrid between the two. We’ll let you know if any of these fit in those groups.
True dwarf types, P. mugo var. pumilio are part of the mugo subspecies.
Unless otherwise specified, these plants thrive in Zones 2 to 8.
Let’s explore 23 of the best varieties to grow in your landscape.
1. Alpenglow
A lot of gardeners appreciate the slow-growing nature of mugo pines, but if you’re a little impatient like I am, ‘Alpenglow’ is a bit more vigorous.
This cultivar can reach its mature size of eight feet tall and 10 feet wide in seven or eight years.
The mounding shrub is densely covered in half-inch needles and has lots of fine branching.
It retains its deep green coloring throughout the winter. It’s one of the more popular options for training bonsai thanks to its fine growth.
‘Alpenglow’ is also popular because it naturally has a flat top shape with rounded sides, making it look like you spent hours pruning when you were actually sitting on the patio in your favorite lounge chair.
2. Aurea
P. mugo var. pumilio ‘Aurea’ is a semi-dwarf type that features long, light green and yellow needles. In the winter, they transition to bright golden-yellow.
While ‘Aurea’ can tolerate a partial sun location, the coloration is best in full sun. It grows to about three feet tall and four feet wide.
The dense shrub, sometimes called golden dwarf, matures over about ten years and provides an ongoing display that shifts with the seasons, with an attractive oval shape.
My one note is that ‘Aurea’ can burn in the winter if it’s exposed to extreme sun and wind.
If that happens, the plant will drop the burned needles and will put out new growth. Or you can prune off the damaged portions yourself.
3. Blue
‘Blue’ is a medium-sized shrub that matures to about eight feet tall and wide.
The two-inch-long needles are distinctly blue-green, showing more blue in the winter and becoming greener in the summer months.
The needles are held upright and are loosely packed, giving the plant an open shape.
4. Carsten’s Wintergold
If you’re looking for a dwarf option with golden needles, ‘Carsten’s Wintergold’ is the best choice.
The needles of this var. pumilio cultivar are green with a hint of yellow during the summer before changing to golden-yellow in the fall.
The colder your climate, the more intense the coloration. It can grow happily in Zones 2 to 8, but the color in warmer regions isn’t quite as stellar.
The needles are relatively short and grow in dense clusters on a plant that is about two feet tall and wide at maturity. It takes about 10 years to achieve its full size, but it’s worth the wait.
‘Carsten’s Wintergold’ nabbed the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit in 2012.
I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want one. Maple Ridge Nursery has plants available in one- and three-gallon containers.
5. Corley’s Mat
One of the most prostrate options out there, P. mugo var. pumilio ‘Corley’s Mat’ can stretch up to four feet wide but typically grows only 18 inches or so tall.
It has medium green needles that keep their color all year round and it’s extremely compact, with the needles so thick you can’t see the ground or stems underneath.
It’s a tough, adaptable option for rock gardens or anywhere you need a reliable ground cover.
6. Donna’s Mini
Whoever named this cultivar wasn’t kidding when they called it “mini.”
This var. pumilio cultivar only grows to about 10 inches tall and 18 inches wide at maturity.
It has dark green needles that are extremely short, covering the mounded shrub from top to bottom. It looks like some odd deep sea creature hanging out in your garden.
7. Dwarf
Before I sing the praises of dwarf mugo pines, a story. My grandma had a dwarf mugo that wasn’t. It grew just as large as the species plant, much to her dismay.
From then on, she would never buy a plant that claimed to be “dwarf.” She believed from that point forward that any plant labelled “dwarf” was a liar and would eventually become full-sized.
Now, she’s not entirely wrong when it comes to mugo pines.
They often used to be mislabeled and unsuspecting consumers would be faced with a massive plant a few years later that they weren’t at all prepared for.
These days, the labeling is a bit better, but double-check that the plant is labeled as “pumilio” or “mops.” If it’s just labeled as “dwarf,” be like my grandma and exercise extreme skepticism.
The true dwarf variety. P. mugo var. pumilio is a marvel. It grows gradually over a decade or so to about five feet tall and ten feet wide at most, though usually closer to five feet wide.
The true dwarf variety maintains an attractive mounding growth habit without any pruning, and dense dark green needles that add texture to the garden.
The Royal Horticultural Society agrees, giving it the Award of Garden Merit in 1993.
In this case, grandma is wrong. Dwarf plants do exist and you can find yours at Nature Hills Nursery.
8. Enci
‘Enci’ has soft, long needles that cover the four-foot-tall and six-foot-wide mounding shrub.
It has impressively dense growth, both with tightly clustered needles and the close-growing branches.
You can’t even see the structure underneath for all the needles. It’s not quite as cold-hardy or heat tolerant as the species plant and is best cultivated in Zones 3 to 7.
9. Fastigiata
‘Fastigiata’ is the perfect choice if your trees suffer from breakage under heavy snow loads in the winter.
The upright, blue-green needles are held closely together so the branches don’t build up with snow as easily as many other cultivars.
At 20 to 25 feet tall and six to eight feet wide, this large option has an upright, columnar or pyramidal shape, which isn’t common among mugo pines.
There is also a version with yellow needles called ‘Aurea Fastigiata.’ Find one for your garden at Fast Growing Trees.
10. Gallica
You aren’t going to find this cultivar at every garden store, but if you want a mugo with an upright, pyramidal shape, this is another of the rare few.
P. mugo subsp. uncinata ‘Gallica’ has lots of upright branches on a shrub that is partially open, growing to 15 feet tall and 10 to 15 feet wide.
The dark green needles keep their color throughout the winter and during the summer heat.
11. Gnome
‘Gnome’ lives up to its name as a true dwarf growing just 18 inches tall and three feet wide.
It has short needles clustered closely together on a finely branched mound with a distinctly flat top.
Occasionally, you’ll find it grafted onto a standard to create a topiary-like look with a long trunk and a rounded canopy.
This cultivar requires almost no pruning to maintain the shape, so it’s perfect if you want that classic topiary look without the constant pruning.
12. Gold Spire
You almost don’t need a description to envision this mugo pine.
‘Gold Spire’ is tall and narrow with a columnar shape. It reaches 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide with dark green foliage.
In the spring, the new candles of needles are deep golden before maturing to dark green.
13. Golden Mound
‘Golden Mound’ has stiff, upright, golden-green needles on a plant that grows about three feet tall and four feet wide over 10 years.
The needles are golden during the winter and greener in the summer.
While the color is certainly attractive, the beautiful mounding shape makes it an extra attractive option for the garden.
14. Green Candle
You know how I mentioned that mugo pines aren’t the star of the garden show? Well ‘Green Candle’ begs to differ. In the spring, the plant is positively smothered in flowers.
At the base of the tan colored candles are clusters of green male pollen cones that eventually turn brown. It makes for a striking accent against the dark green leaves.
It has globe-like growth habit when young, but as it matures it takes on a distinctly broad pyramidal shape, reaching about five feet tall and wide.
15. Humpy
At 18 inches tall and two feet wide, ‘Humpy’ is one petite P. mugo var. pumilio cultivar. It has proportionally short needles with thick, dense growth.
The terminal buds take on a white resinous coating in the winter, which, when combined with the dark green needles, creates a big impact on a small plant.
‘Humpty’ earned the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit in 2012.
16. Mini Mini
This teeny tiny plant is so small that it has to have two “minis” in its name! This cultivar originated from a witches’-broom growth on ‘Valley Cushion’ in the 1980s.
‘Mini Mini’ only grows to about eight inches tall and wide, or slightly wider. The leaves are proportionally small, which makes the plant look like a fuzzy ball of green velvet.
It’s perfect in the garden, containers, or as a tiny bonsai.
17. Mughus
Mughus is a natural variation that was discovered rather than cultivated.
Sometimes listed as subspecies mugo or mughus, and sometimes called P. mugo var. mughus or var. mugo these names refer to the same plant.
This variety can reach 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide when mature, though they often stay about half that size, with a mounded shape.
It makes an ideal hedge or can act as a low backdrop or filler for a dry area. You can find plants available at Planting Tree.
18. Ophir
While mounding shapes are the most common among mugo pines, there are a few that are truly rounded or globose. P. mugo var. pumilio ‘Ophir’ is one such cultivar.
It has a round shape with a slightly flattened top and pale yellow-green needles that turn deep golden in the winter.
It grows just three feet tall and wide in soils that range from clay to sandy, and acidic to alkaline. It’s also extremely drought-tolerant.
It should come as no surprise, then, that ‘Ophir’ was given the Award of Garden Merit in 2012 by the Royal Horticultural Society.
19. Slowmound
As the name suggests, this cultivar has a round, mounded shape.
At four feet tall and six feet wide at most, it’s a compact option that works nicely as a specimen or in groups.
The needles are dark green and densely packed, and it will hold its color in heat or cold.
‘Slowmound’ lives up to its name as a slow grower that takes 10 or more years to reach its full size. It’s also long lived, so you can enjoy it for decades to come.
‘Sunshine’ isn’t super common, but it’s definitely worth looking out for. It’s a P. mugo var. pumilio cultivar that grows three feet tall and wide.
The long needles have distinct bands of green and yellow.
From a distance, the plant looks like it has a green base with yellow edges, but up close, it looks like a green and yellow porcupine exploded all over the shrub.
Purchase this mugo subspecies cultivar at Fast Growing Trees. Then, gather the friends around to sing the praises of beautiful ‘Tannenbaum.’
22. White Bud
I think ‘White Bud’ is super cool.
It’s unusual and stands out from other P. mugo var. pumilio cultivars in that the tips of the growing branches, known as the terminal buds, develop a white, waxy coating during cold weather.
This coloration adds a bright accent to the long, dark green needles.
It’s a true dwarf cultivar that stays under three feet high and four feet wide with a rounded to mounding habit.
23. Yellow Point
A popular option for bonsai, ‘Yellow Point’ has medium green needles tipped in yellow, and the yellow only intensifies during the winter.
The coloration is gradual rather than abrupt, as it can be on some cultivars, with the yellow fading into the green at the base.
It has a rounded shape at three feet tall and wide with thick, dense growth.
Make Room for More Mugo Pines
Mugo pines are gloriously long-lived, slow-growing, extremely low-maintenance, and tough as can be.
They aren’t just medium to large shrubs, either. You can find tall trees, itty bitty balls, and lovely ground covers.
There’s a lot to love on this list. Are one or two of them calling your name? Let us know which is your favorite. Or maybe you have one that you love that we missed? Give us the details in the comments section below.
SUFFOLK, Va. — Whenever historic homes get flooded, building contractors often feel compelled by government regulations to rip out the water-logged wood flooring, tear down the old plaster walls and install new, flood-resistant materials.
It’s a hurried approach that’s likely to occur across southwest Florida in the wake of Hurricane Ian. But restorers Paige Pollard and Kerry Shackelford say they know something that science is yet to prove: historic building materials can often withstand repeated soakings. There’s often no need, they say, to put in modern products such as box-store lumber that are both costly to homeowners and dilute a house’s historic character.
“Our forefathers chose materials that were naturally rot-resistant, like black locust and red cedar and cypress,” said Shackelford, who owns a historic restoration business. “And they actually survive better than many of the products we use today.”
Pollard and Shackelford are part of an emerging movement in the U.S. that aims to prove the resilience of older homes as more fall under the threat of rising seas and intensifying storms due to climate change. They hope their research near Virginia’s coast can convince more government officials and building contractors that historic building materials often need cleaning — not replacing — after a flood.
In Florida, historic preservationists already fear older homes damaged by Ian may be stripped of original materials because so few craftsmen are available who can properly perform repairs.
“There are some companies that just roll through, and their job is just to come in and gut the place and move on,” said Jenny Wolfe, board president of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
Pollard and Shackelford’s joint venture in Virginia, the retrofit design firm Building Resilient Solutions, opened a lab this year in which planks of old-growth pine, oak and cedar are submerged into a tank mimicking flood conditions. The tests are designed to demonstrate historic materials’ durability and were devised with help from Virginia Tech researchers.
Meanwhile, the National Park Service has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on similar research at the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Illinois.
Researchers there have read through construction manuals from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries to assemble everything from tongue-and-groove flooring to brick walls coated with plaster. The materials were lowered into water containing bacteria and mold to simulate tainted floodwater.
The research may seem glaringly redundant considering all of the older homes that stand intact along the nation’s coasts and rivers: many have withstood multiple floods and still boast their original floors and walls.
Pollard and Shackelford say lumber in older homes is resilient because it came from trees that grew slowly over decades, if not centuries. That means the trees’ growth rings were small and dense, thereby making it harder for water to seep in. Also, the timber was cut from the innermost part of the trunk, which produces the hardest wood.
Plaster can also be water resistant, while common plaster coatings were made from lime, a substance with antiseptic qualities.
But here’s the problem: U.S. flood insurance regulations often require structures in flood-prone areas to be repaired with products classified as flood-resistant. And many historic building materials haven’t been classified because they haven’t been tested.
U.S. regulations allow exceptions for homes on the National Register of Historic Places as well as some state and local registries. But not everyone fully understands or is aware of the exceptions, which can be limited.
The far bigger challenge is a lack of expertise among contractors and local officials, Pollard said. Interpretations of the regulations can vary, particularly in the chaos after a major flood.
“You’ve got a property owner who’s in distress,” said Pollard, who co-owns a historic preservation firm. “They’re dealing with a contractor who’s being pulled in a million directions. And the contractors are trained to get all of that (wet) material into a dumpster as quickly as possible.”
In Norfolk, Virginia, Karen Speights said a contractor replaced her original first floor — made from old-growth pine — with laminate flooring after her home flooded.
Built in the 1920s, Speights’ two-story craftsman is in Chesterfield Heights, a predominantly Black neighborhood on the National Register of Historic Places. It sits along an estuary of the Chesapeake Bay in one of the most vulnerable cities to sea-level rise.
“I still believe I had a good contractor, but flooding was not his expertise,” Speights said. “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Along Florida’s Gulf Coast, there are thousands of historic structures, said Wolfe of the Florida Trust. A large number of them are wood-framed houses on piers with plaster-and-lath walls.
Many likely just need to be dried out after Ian, Wolfe said. But only so many local contractors know what to do “in terms of drying them slowly and opening up the baseboards to get circular airflow.”
Andy Apter, president-elect of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, agreed that many contractors aren’t well-versed in older building materials.
“There’s no course that I know of that teaches you directly how to work on historical homes,” said Apter, a Maryland contractor. “It’s like an antique car. You’re going to be limited on where you can find parts and where you can find someone who’s qualified to work on it.”
But interest in the resilience of older homes has grown since Hurricane Katrina, which deluged hundreds of thousands of historic structures along the Gulf Coast in 2005, according to Jenifer Eggleston, the National Park Service’s chief of staff for cultural resources, partnerships and science.
Eggleston said the park service recognized the growing need to protect older structures and issued new guidelines last year for rehabilitating historic buildings in flood-prone areas.
The guidelines recommend keeping historic materials in place when possible. But they don’t list specific materials due to the lack of research on their flood resistance.
That’s where the studies come in.
A recent study by the park service and Army Corps found that some historic materials, such as old-growth heart pine and cypress flooring, performed considerably better than certain varieties of modern lumber, Eggleston said.
Those particular floor assemblies could be dried for reuse after so-called “clean water” damage, Eggleston said. But they would likely require refinishing to remove “biological activity,” such as mold and bacteria.
Pollard and Shackelford said they’re hoping for an eventual shift in practices that will save money for homeowners as well as taxpayers, who often foot the bill after a major disaster.
In the meantime, flooding in historic areas will only get worse from more frequent rain storms or more powerful hurricanes, said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers.
“Think about our historic settlement patterns in the country,” Berginnis said. “On the coasts, we settled around water. Inland, we settled around water.”
