Why Do Gardeners Hang Pine Cones In The Garden?

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You may primarily think of pine cones as something that adds beauty to your landscape as they hang from your stately pine trees, or as an annoyance once they begin to fall and cover your lawn. There are also different kinds of tree cones from the various coniferous trees. While these aren't technically pine cones if they aren't from pine trees, they behave similarly. You don't have to just leave these gorgeous cones on the trees or strewn across the ground, though. They're perfect for adding a festive touch to wintery home decor and creating fun crafts too. And you may have even seen people hanging pine cones from strings in their garden. While this does add a whimsical element, it's not done purely for aesthetic reasons. Pine cones are also a fun way to track the weather.

Pine cones are designed to protect the pine tree's seeds, which are located on the scales of the cones. You can even grow your own pine trees from these seeds. Because of how they are made, pine cones can open and close their scales depending on temperature and weather. This doesn't end after they dry and fall from the tree, either. The cones will continue to open when they are dry and close when the humidity is high or when they are wet. This means that by checking the pine cones they have suspended on strings, gardeners can find out the relative humidity.

As fun as using a pine cone to track your relative humidity is, if you need precise data, it may not be the best hygrometer. While you can try calibrating your pine cone by carefully tracking relative humidity on weather reports and correlating that with how tightly open or closed your pine cones are, it may never be quite as precise as store-bought hydrometers like the JEDEW hygrometer digital humidity meter.

Pine cone hygrometers are still a lot of fun, though, and add an interesting and ever-changing element to your garden. You could also use them inside to make sure your basement is staying relatively dry or to check if a terrarium is remaining humid enough. Of course, helping to tell the weather is far from the only thing pine cones are useful for. Filling planters partway with pine cones can make them lighter and easier to move. And you can even use them as convenient kindling for bonfires.