White Fir
Abies concolor (PINACEAE)
Planting and Growing White Fir Trees
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow white fir trees in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Foliage, cones, and seeds of white fir trees
- Growing conditions for white fir
- When to plant white fir
- How to plant white fir
- How to prune white fir
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of white fir
- Landscape uses of white fir
- Pest and disease control for white fir
Growing White Fir Trees
Many cultivars of medium- to slow-growing, upright, pyramid-shaped, coniferous, evergreen trees, to 100 ft. (30 m) tall or more, with whorled branches and shiny, blue green or green, flat needles, to 2 in. (50 mm) long, with silver, banded bark bearing pitch-filled blisters.
White Fir Planting and Care Guide
Cones and Seeds
Female cones are erect, brown, green, purple, cylinder-shaped, to 5 in. (13 cm) long, with woody scales bearing pairs of winged seed.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 4–9.
Soil Type and Fertility
Damp, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich-average. 5.5–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun. Space 12–15 ft. (3.7–4.5 m) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp; allow soil surface to dry between waterings until fully established. Avoid fertilizing and pruning. Protect from heat, smog. Propagate by seed.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, allées, banks, containers, groups, screens, specimens in meadow, woodland gardens and landscape slopes. Good for bonsai. Seed attracts birds in autumn. Aphid, beetle, borer, spider mite, sawfly susceptible.
Common Species of Fir Trees:
Landscape Fir Species:
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- Abies balsamea, balsam fir
- Abies concolor, white fir
- Abies firma, Momi fir
- Abies fraseri, Fraser fir
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Other Fir Species:
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- Abies alba, silver-tipped fir
- Abies amabilis, silver fir
- Abies cephalonica, Greek fir
- Abies grandis, giant fir
- Abies homolepis, Nikko fir
- Abies koreana, Korean fir
- Abies lasiocarpa, Rocky Mountain fir
- Abies magnifica, red fir
- Abies nordmanniana, Nordmann fir
- Abies pinsapo, Spanish fir
- Abies procera, noble fir
- Abies sibirica, Siberian fir
- Abies spectabilis, Himalayan fir
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About Fir Trees
About 40 species of large and stately, pyramid-shaped, coniferous trees are included in the Abies genus.
Firs are native to the northern hemisphere’s temperate mountains. They thrive in high-elevation locations and are best in an open landscape where their sturdy trunks and wide-spreading, horizontal branches may be seen from a distance.
Only a few species of fir perform well in landscape settings because they need mild, moist summers and cold winters to thrive. Avoid planting them in areas with hot, dry summers or in urban sites with sustained air pollution.
Firs are fast-growing trees, mostly reaching about 30 ft. (9 m) in height in landscape plantings. They slow their growth to a medium rate as they reach mature size and begin to produce their upright, clustered cones.
If kept rootbound in a planter, firs will grow slowly, making them ideal for bonsai and shape training. They rarely need pruning; when planted in a site with ample room, they develop into pleasing, conical trees.
While firs generally are resistant to disease, their new growth sometimes attracts aphids. Larval beetles and borers also can infest their bark.
Choose from among the popularly cultivated species above.
Planting and Caring for Fir Trees
Firs are large, upright, and conical elements requiring space in a landscape garden. When mature, they have massive, single trunks. Unpruned, their lowest branches start nearly at the soil’s surface.
Plant firs in damp, well-drained soil that is high in acidity. All landscape trees perform best when planted in native soil without amendments.
Your site should be tested for acid-alkaline balance before planting. If the soil is outside the 5.5–7.0 pH range that firs need, choose a conifer more tolerant of soil conditions.
Whenever planting native fir species, also compare your tree’s needs to your climate.
Carefully match the depth of the planting hole to the soil line of your tree when planting.
Firs need good drainage, and the root crown should be placed underground at the same level as it was grown at the tree nursery. Backfill the planting hole with native soil, surround it with a moat, and give the tree plenty of water through its first summer, watering whenever the soil surface becomes thoroughly dry.
Firs are the right choice for open or woodland gardens. The recommended spacing of 12–15 ft. (3.7–4.5 m) is the minimum you should consider when planting a conifer near a structure; double or triple that spacing to plant specimen trees.
Because they spread quickly at first and later become a dominant feature in every landscape, give them ample room.
To use small firs as an indoor holiday decoration, plant it and its container in the soil to slow its growth, and apply mulch over its roots.
Unearth the tree’s container before the soil freezes, clean it, and bring it indoors. When the holiday season is over, remove the tree from its container and replant the fir into your garden.