Abies Questions for Resin

I have an old list of Abies that you suggested were appropriate(and not) for my Northern Illinois location. I found some more species that I have never heard of--could you opine on the suitability of these for my Midwestern Zone 5 climate?

Abies chensiesis var ernestii
Abies chensiesis spp salouenensis
Abies cilicica
Abies delavayi var. smithii
Abies fargesii
Abies kawakamii
Abies mariesii
Abies nebrodensis
Abies numidica
Abies religiosa
Abies sibirica
Abies x pardei

Hi Kevin,

Abies chensiensis var ernestii = A. recurvata var. ernestii; yes, well worth trying
Abies chensiensis spp salouenensis - no; only zone 8/9 hardy (but A. chensiensis spp chensiensis is well worth trying)
Abies cilicica - yes, well worth trying
Abies delavayi var. smithii = A. forrestii; no, not heat tolerant
Abies fargesii - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies kawakamii - no; only zone 7/8 hardy
Abies mariesii - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies nebrodensis - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies numidica - worth trying, but may only be zone 6/7 hardy
Abies religiosa - no; only zone 8/9 hardy
Abies sibirica - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies x pardei = A. borisii-regis; yes, well worth trying

Resin

Kevin,

Do you have a link, or can you post, the list of other abies better suited to this climate. I was also interested in growing some abies cultivars, but haven't seen a good list for this area.

I was just going to try species that local places grew like Rich's Foxwillow. Mine were probably more mainstream cultivars of balsamea, concolor, koreana, lasiocarpa, and nordmanniana. These were basically plucked straight from Rich's catalog so I am assuming they all work reasonably well here.

Willis

Resin--as always--much appreciated.

Willis, here is what I had copied from a couple years back:

Abies procera - no
Abies magnifica shastensis - no
Abies amabilis - no
Abies equi-trojani - = A. nordmanniana var. equi-trojani; yes
Abies veitchii , Abies koreana, Abies nephrolepsis- yes, but probably short-lived due to heat
Abies grandis - interior origins (var. idahoensis) yes; coastal origins no
Abies homolepsis - yes
Abies cephalonica - yes
Abies alba - yes
Also add Abies holophylla and A. borisii-regis to the list as yes

Thanks Kevin. Koreana is tops on my list so hopefully it would work. I just have to have those purple/blue cones. At least the nordmanniana 'Golden Spreader' sounds like it should work.

Willis

I didn't even ask about the A. nordmanniana and A. concolor as I had those growing fine at my old house. I think they are no problem here. For some reason, I scratched A. lasiocarpa off my list????

From what I've heard, 'Golden Spreader' is very demanding and tough to keep alive. A small nursery in the Twin Cities had a nice-sized one last year for $220. I was very tempted, but as the saying goes--buy what you can afford to lose. Tough to walk away from it, but for me the risk factor exceeded the reward .

Ooops!

Copied & pasted the wrong line down . . . should read:

Abies nebrodensis - yes, well worth trying

Resin

Summary:

Abies chensiensis var ernestii = A. recurvata var. ernestii; yes, well worth trying
Abies chensiensis spp salouenensis - no; only zone 8/9 hardy (but A. chensiensis spp chensiensis is well worth trying)
Abies cilicica - yes, well worth trying
Abies delavayi var. smithii = A. forrestii; no, not heat tolerant
Abies fargesii - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies kawakamii - no; only zone 7/8 hardy
Abies mariesii - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies nebrodensis - yes, well worth trying
Abies numidica - worth trying, but may only be zone 6/7 hardy
Abies religiosa - no; only zone 8/9 hardy
Abies sibirica - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies x pardei = A. borisii-regis; yes, well worth trying
Abies procera - no
Abies magnifica shastensis - no
Abies amabilis - no
Abies equi-trojani - = A. nordmanniana var. equi-trojani; yes
Abies veitchii , Abies koreana, Abies nephrolepis- yes, but probably short-lived due to heat
Abies grandis - interior origins (var. idahoensis) yes; coastal origins no
Abies homolepis - yes
Abies cephalonica - yes
Abies alba - yes
Abies holophylla--yes
A. borisii-regis - yes
A. concolor - yes
A. nordmanniana - yes
A. lasiocarpa- not very heat tolerant; likely to be very short-lived

There you go--a Resin-based list of Abies for midwest Zone 5. Thanks Resin!

P.S. VV--alphabetized? You've seen my yard--organization is not my thing!


This message was edited Jan 15, 2007 5:00 PM

C'mon, you cut and pasted but didn't alphabetize!

EditEditEditEditEditEditEditEditEditEditEditEdit...

Here's a nice Abies nordmanniana to give you inspiration.

Hi Kevin,

What's the verdict on A. lasiocarpa? - not very heat tolerant; likely to be very short-lived

Others, yep, except 2 typos:

Abies nephrolepis (not -psis)
Abies homolepis (ditto)

Resin

I forgot a few--after these, I will alphabetize a summary, just to make it nice and pretty. I completely skipped the common:

Abies balsamea
Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis
Abies fraseri

and also forgot

Abies bornmuelleriana

Abies alba - yes
Abies amabilis - no
Abies balsamea - may not be heat tolerant
Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis - worth a try though heat tolerance could be an issue
Abies borisii-regis - yes
Abies bornmuelleriana = A. nordmanniana var. bornmuelleriana; should do well
Abies cephalonica - yes
Abies chensiensis var ernestii = A. recurvata var. ernestii; yes, well worth trying
Abies chensiensis spp chensiensis - well worth trying
Abies chensiensis spp salouenensis - no; only zone 8/9 hardy
Abies cilicica - yes, well worth trying
Abies concolor - yes
Abies delavayi var. smithii = A. forrestii; no, not heat tolerant
Abies equi-trojani - = A. nordmanniana var. equi-trojani; yes
Abies fargesii - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies firma - no
Abies fraseri - short-lived due to heat intolerance
Abies grandis - interior origins (var. idahoensis) yes; coastal origins no
Abies holophylla--yes
Abies homolepis - yes
Abies kawakamii - no; only zone 7/8 hardy
Abies koreana - yes, but probably short-lived due to heat
Abies lasiocarpa- not very heat tolerant; likely to be very short-lived
Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica - perhaps(doing well in Rockford, IL)
Abies magnifica shastensis - no
Abies mariesii - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies nebrodensis - yes, well worth trying
Abies nephrolepis- yes, but probably short-lived due to heat
Abies nordmanniana - yes
Abies numidica - worth trying, but may only be zone 6/7 hardy
Abies procera - no
Abies recurvata - yes, well worth trying
Abies recurvata var. ernestii - yes, well worth trying(see A. chensiensis var ernestii)
Abies religiosa - no; only zone 8/9 hardy
Abies sachlinensis - yes
Abies sibirica - worth a try but unlikely to be successful (not very heat tolerant)
Abies x pardei = A. borisii-regis; yes, well worth trying
Abies veitchii - yes, but probably short-lived due to heat



This message was edited Jan 16, 2007 9:14 PM

I didn't get to you in time.

Abies firma (Momi fir) got left out.

NOOOOOOOOOO

Ok--will edit(though I don't think it will work here). I also found Abies sachalinensis in Morton Arboretum's list---see here

http://redwood.mortonarb.org/PageBuilder?cid=10&qid=10&submit=1&sciname=Abies

This message was edited Jan 16, 2007 6:13 PM

Also to add (sorry, more editing for you!):

Abies recurvata - yes, well worth trying
Abies recurvata var. ernestii - yes, well worth trying

Resin

My $0.02,

Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica ( or whatever moniker it has now) Very well worth trying. Doing well in Rockford, IL at the Klehm Arboretum and Madison, WI at Longenecker Gardens. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/AbiesLasiocarpaArizonicaGlaucaHabit.jpg

Abies koreana: doing well in Madison, WI http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/AbiesKoreanaHabitLG.jpg Also, saw these beautiful cones on A. koreana 'Compact Dwarf' http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/AbiesKoreanaCone2LG.jpg

Abies koreana x Abies lasiocarpa: saw this at Gee's in MI, my picture doesn't do justice to the fine blueish foliage, good vigor. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/AbiesKoreanaXLasiocarpaHabit.jpg

Abies cilicica at Holden Arboretum, very beautiful plant: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/AbiesCilicicaHabitHA.jpg

One final mystery fir at Spring Grove Cemetary. Unlabeled but what a beautiful plant! http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/AbiesSpp.jpg

Regards,
Ernie



This message was edited Jan 16, 2007 10:09 PM

http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/730.pdf

Good info here, especially for east-coasters.

Thanks so much to all who contributed to this thread. What a great resource!