The Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine, otherwise known as the Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ or Eastern White Pine ‘Blue Shag’, Weymouth Pine ‘Blue Shag’, North American Pumpkin Pine ‘Blue Shag’, North American White Pine ‘Blue Shag’, White Pine ‘Blue Shag’, is a rather well known shrub plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and slow growth, this shrub will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The fundamental caring guidelines for every Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine can be summed up into the following:
- Water: The Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine prefers constant watering each week and more during the hot season.
- Light: Keep your Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ in an environment where it can receive full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine in soil with well-draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand and loam.
That’s it – sunlight, water and soil! The basic 3 fundamentals for all plant care, and with the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine this is no exception. With these three elements, your leafy friend will live healthy and happy.

Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine belongs to the Pinaceae family, the genus Pinus and the species Strobus, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ (PY-nus DEN-sih-floor-uh).
Other popular Pinaceae plants include species like Tall Lodgepole Pine, Abies Balsamea ‘Nana’, Dwarf Pine’, Drooping Cone Pine ‘Carstens’, Sherwood Compact Mugo Pine, Shore Pine, Subalpine Fir ‘Green Globe’, ‘Low Glow’ Japanese Red Pine, Abies Koreana ‘Horstmann’S Silberlocke’, Lantana Camara ‘Monike’ Plant Patent #17,612, Serbian Spruce ‘Aurea’, Photinia X Fraseri, Picea Mariana ‘Nana’, Limbertwig, Pinus Strobus ‘Nana’, Pinus Sylvestris ‘Glauca Nana’, Raspberry Lemonade™ Ninebark, Calabrian Pine, Loblolly Pine, Mops Mugo Pine, Nidiformis Norway Spruce, Picea Abies ‘Pumila’, Abies Concolor ‘Blue Cloak’, Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Ceanothus X ‘Blue Sapphire’ and Columnar Blue Atlas Cedar.
As with other Pinus’s, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.
Growing Region
The Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine is a plant native to the Northeastern United States and Canada.
You might be wondering why your Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine’s native region is important. Well, if you know where your plant originally came from, you’ll know which environment conditions it prefers, and with it, knowledge on how to replicate it at home.
With this in mind, the Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ will be most used to the heat zones in the 1 – 9 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 3a, 3b, 4b, 4a, 5b, 5a, 6b, 6a, 7a, 7b, 8b, 8a and the ideal climate zone is between 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine is a relatively slow grower, which makes things easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But what exactly does this mean for your Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine? How large a pot should you consider, how tall, how wide can it get? Let’s jump in…
The Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ can grow up to 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm) in 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm) and 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm) in 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm).
These dimensions make the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine a relatively large shrub compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
Also, expect it to grow in a wonderful compact, and upright shape, which is something worthwhile to remember when making your garden landscape plans.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 96″ (240cm) free so the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine is a fairly simple plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ prefers constant watering each week and more during the hot season.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.

Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine in soil with well-draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, moist, and occasionally dry properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine prefers to have soil with good drainage, moist, and occasionally dry properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand and loam.
This is why most experts agree that the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine requires soil with high organic matter, loam (silt), and sand, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine requires full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this shrub will do well as long as you keep it in full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ in full and direct sun (more than 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being an evergreen plant, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine will be present year round in your garden.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (early, mid, late), the summer (early, mid, late), the fall, and during the winter.
Flowers
You can expect your Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine to flower around the spring months from April to June (spring).
The Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine produces some wonderful gold/yellow and green flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a needles arrangement with a other/more complex organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ to be around (3-6 inches) in size.

Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine is well known for its tolerance to animals like rabbit and deer, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ will be fine.
Garden
How should you then organize your garden to include your new Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine? Here are some recommendations by expert gardeners.
Most Pinus Densiflora ‘Umbraculifera Compacta’ owners agree that this shrub will look great in most asian/zen and contemporary gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of coastal garden, and in gravel and rock garden styles.
In particular, the Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, and in small gardens, others use it for landscaping in a specimen, container, urban garden, rock garden, topiary, or a wildlife garden.
Companion Plants
Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Acer, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Rhododendron will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Compact Tanyosho Japanese Red Pine in your garden or home.