Hi Everyone...
I am starting to plan out things for spring and was thinking about planting 2 fir trees....
It is for a spot in the back of the yard behind a large flower bed. It would be on both sides of a young red oak tree.
I was thinking about a fraser and balsam fir. We already have a douglas for tree.
Any suggestions?

Hi! I'm in No. California, zone 9-ish. What zone are you in? Are you looking for tall-growing firs? Abies Concolor - Colorado White fir or Silver fir has a beautiful shape. Abies Pinsapo, or Spanish fir have wonderful short intersting needles and also grows tall. If you are looking for something "stubbier", How about Abies nordmanniana or "Caucasian (?) fir "Golden Spreader" is the specific variety I'm thinking of. It's just a knock-out looking tree in every aspect - shape, needle color, cones, everything. It's a shorty though. Hope this helps. ~Timi

Hi... I'm in Zone 5a..Northern IL..
Thanks for the help!
Greg

I'm looking for medium growing firs....20 ft. or so....

Oh good, yes zone 5-ish, med height. Hmmmmmmm, Oh, I know, how about an Abies Homolepis - Manchurian fir or Nikko fir? It has a nice conical shape with tiered branches and cylindrical violet blue cones. Very pretty. it grows nicely in zones 5 - 9. It will be a nice height for you too. Another very pretty tree is Abies Lasiocarpa - Alpine fir/Rocky Mountain fir/Subalpine fir. This is one of my favs. hardy from zone 4, up. Very dense blue/gray/green needles, 4 inches cones, only gets about a 12 foot spread which is nice for a garden. Stays neat looking, and doesn't grow past I'd say... 25, 30 feet.

First off, just wanted to say HI Greg
I had no real idea so I didn't answer the post...

And I also had to ask, Gardenzealot,
how the heck she knows soooooooo much
about pine trees????
Very curious????????

I know a wee~bit about some of the trees,
but you've got some good knowledge of them,

Care to share????
Weezie

Well.... to be honest, I worked at the biggest nursery in the county before going into real estate. I was already kind of a gardening fanatic and being a Costco shopper, I bought every gardening book they've every carried -which is a lot of books! I read through them all the time, like magazines. But, at the nursery, I learned soooooooo much! In California you can be pretty versitile in your plantings and Empire Nursery is giant. They have countless varieties of everything!!! I learned them all. Latin names, common names, zones, quirks, you name it. Once my stupid joints started betraying me, I had to give it up. Standing and bending, kneeling all day just became too painful. So I had to pick a less physical way to earn a living. Well, that's my story, who wants pie?

I like cherry pie!!!

But now I know how you knew all those names!!!
I have very little knowledge of
trees, but I was going to pipe in and
give Greg a quick answer,
BUT I am sooooooooooooo glad you did!!!

My father knew alot about trees,
could tell what they were by the
bark and leaves.
I never acquired that ability!!

Weezie