Summary • White pines (Pinus strobus) in a c. 1 ha near-boreal aspen-red maple stand in the western Great Lakes region, USA, were allocated to five size-classes that were tested for discordance of their spatial patterns (i.e. within-size-class spatial distribution of individuals and spatial associations among different size-classes). The size-classes were 0.5–1 m tall, 1–2 m tall, 2–4 m tall, > 4 m tall but 20 cm d.b.h. The size-classes also differed in age. Their spatial patterns were analysed using formulae for spatial autocorrelation with categorical data at neighbourhood (0–14 m) and stand (0–70 m) scales. • Size-classes clustered in neighbourhoods that differed in size ranging from 6 m in diameter (size-class 2) to 40 m (size-class 3), suggesting that the pattern of each size-class is due to a different set of environmental factors. Similar size-classes tended to be randomly or positively associated at neighbourhood scales, while the most dissimilar size-classes occupied different neighbourhoods. • Size-classes 1 and 2 were located farther away from seed trees than size-class 3, which was farther away than size-class 4. Thus periodic seedling invasion of a deciduous matrix may be followed by the gradual retraction of older size-classes into a refuge near the mature seed source where competition from shrubs and overstorey trees is lower. Although the lack of fine-scale clustering suggests density-dependent mortality within the refuge, few older individuals were found outside this area. • Two regeneration bottlenecks may structure white pine populations. First, recruitment into size-class 2 is restricted to small patches (possibly in understorey gaps) within neighbourhoods with abundant size-class 1. Relatively unrestricted recruitment to size-class 3 follows, and after that recruitment to size-class 4 is again limited, this time to refugia with sparse canopy near adult trees.