Trees
While the terms of pine cones, fir cones and spruce cones may be used interchangeably, they come from different species of trees within the conifer family. According to DifferenceBetween.com, there are many differences between pine and fir cones, ranging from the bark to their needles. As such, they produce different cones.
Cones
LeaftyPlace discusses the differences further, also bringing in spruce cones to compare, which are softer than pine cones. Although I would initially say the cones we have in our garden are quite hard, spruce cones visually seem similar to what we mostly have. It continues to be complicated, as although fir cones appear very dense, there are different varieties and some of the cones with collect are denser than others.
In fact, we notice four distinct types in our garden: tall/long ones, short round ones, closed ones, and dense ones. Although we are unsure if we will ever be able to scientifically identify them without expert assistance, we can try and see which types look like the ones we have in our garden.
- Tall/Long: This page at Tree Guide UK about spruce cones shows a photo of an Oriental Spruce, which is the closest we have seen so far to what we sell in our box of long cones.
- Short Round: At Dyck Arboretum of the Plains, the pine cones we add to our mixed box seem to be similar to the opened Austrian pine.
- Closed: Looking at Tree Guide UK again, these pine cones would seem closest to Scots Pine, though open to look like our short round cones, suggesting rather than being Austrian pine, Short Round and Closed are both Scots Pine.
- Dense: The Woodland Trust shows images of the Douglas fir, which produces cones that look very similar to the few we find, sticker and pricklier than the tall/long cones we gather.
So What Do We Sell?
It is hard to exactly say as we are not experts, but it would be interesting if we had pine, fir and spruce trees in the garden! As such, it’s probably easier to say we sell a mixture of conifer cones from pine, fir and spruce. But regardless of the exact species, variety or type our cones are, they are nonetheless wonderful to include in various home decor displays, craft projects, and other uses where you want to have a rustic, Autumnal or natural theme!