Loblolly Pine #1 (late June 2023). Lost several more lower branches, but otherwise doing OK.
Second Loblolly Pine: late June 2023 first picture, doing very well. First Loblolly Pine: mid-July 2022 second picture. Lost several lower branches over 2022, especially on one side.
Loblolly Pine Needle details from May 2020
I thought we had two Loblolly Pine trees. We purchased what I thought was a Loblolly Pine in May 2012 from Brazos Bend Tree Farm that had one last remaining pine in a 95 gallon pot. It was about 25ft tall. As the first "Loblolly Pine" looked like a lollipop (all lower and middle branches missing) and I was uncertain whether it would make it, I decided to buy a second Loblolly Pine (30 gallons), this time from Forever Green Nursery in Angleton, making sure this one had healthy branches low on the trunk - we planted this one in January of 2015 and it has been doing well so far, with a lot of new growth: although it did lose an awful lot of needles during the 2015/2016 winter period, plenty of new ones replaced them in spring. I figured out in 2018 that the first pine is likely a Slash Pine (the cones have stalks whereas the cones of Loblolly Pines are sessile), so actually I only have one Loblolly Pine tree. On March 3rd 2017, the Loblolly Pine produced its male "flowers".
On April 8th 2017, the Loblolly Pine was showing lots of new growth as some of last year's needles turned yellowish.
On June 17th 2017, I noticed the Loblolly Pine's first cone.
In early March 2019, there were more catkins than I had seen before on this tree. The picture below is from March 8th - it is looking down on one of the Eastern branches which touches the ground.
By mid-March the catkins were drooping as the new needle growth for the year started to push upwards.
By early August 2020, the Loblolly Pine is doing great. I bought a second Loblolly Pine in the spring of 2020 (45 gallons) and planted it nearer the house. It is also doing very well in general, although it did get attacked by pine webworm.