“God Almighty first planted a garden. And, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.” Essays: Of Gardens, by Francis Bacon
“We first knew you a feeble plant which wanted a little earth whereupon to grow. We gave it to you, and afterward when we could have trod you under our feet, we watered and protected you; and now you have grown to be a mighty tree, whose top reaches the clouds, and whose branches overspread the whole land, whilst we, who were the tall pine of the forest, have become a feeble plant and need your protection.” – Sagoyewatha, statement c.1792
The Latin word PINETUM meant pine grove and that is still very close to today’s most precise definition. A pinetum is a grove or plantation where pine trees are cultivated, particularly for scientific, educational &/or esthetic purposes. It is a specialized type of arboretum — a place where many kinds of trees are grown for the same purposes. (Latin: arbor = tree; pinus = pine tree).
Most tree collections are referred to as an arboretum or botanical garden, no matter what kind of trees are grown there and the word pinetum is seldom used. The few tree collections that are called “_________ Pinetum” almost always have more genera than just pines. The most famous of the world’s pinetums (the Romans would have said the plural is pineta) is the Bedgebury National Pinetum in County Kent, England and even it does not exclusively contain pine trees. Most of the non-pines there are other types of conifers such as spruce, fir, Douglas fir, larch, cypress, false cypress, dawn redwood, incense cedar, sequoia, etc. and even a few non-conifers such as maple, sweet gum and cherry are found at Bedgebury.
So the definition of pinetum has been blurred by modern (mis-?) use of the term or by the (mis-?) planting of non-pines. A fair compromise of the definition would be an arboretum with predominantly conifers.
The Pearson Creek and Angelina Unit includes all possible species of conifers, mostly in the families Pinaceae and Cupressaceae, and some southern hemisphere species in the Angelina Unit. (Please see the Angelina and Pearson Creek Database under the Angelina Unit category and Pearson Creek Unit category)
The Alder Springs Unit has a relatively small planting of introduced conifers. (Please see, Alder Springs Experimental Area” ).