(Giant Fir, Grand Fir)

This species is appropriately called the giant or grand fir because it's one of the tallest growing firs in the world, usually in the 200- to 300-foot (70 to 100 m) range. This evergreen is very fast growing, attaining a narrow column-like or spire-like silhouette with massive trunk. Native to the central Pacific coast of North America, the giant fir grows in British Columbia inland to the Idaho-Montana mountains and southward to northern California, where it's known along the coast. Some botanists...

(Nikko Fir)

Densely foliaged branches with glossy dark green needles makes the Nikko fir one of the most stately of fir species, although quite difficult to locate in nurseries. A tall evergreen conifer (cone-bearing) tree from Japan, it attains a spire-like shape but also becomes more pyramidal with age.

The glossy dark green needles have two white bands on their undersides. Densely lining all branches, the needles are held both horizontally and vertically, although the latter are shed earlier. New twig...

(Rocky Mountain Fir, Subalpine Fir)

Very tall and narrow in form, subalpine fir looks like a green church spire. A cone-bearing evergreen tree with green needles that have a bluish cast, it is native from the Yukon of Canada southward in the Rocky Mountains to northern Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. Its bark is gray to nearly white, smooth but mildly bumpy.

The short but flattened needles whorl around the tree's twigs. They are dark green but covered in a bluish-white film (called a bloom). In early summer, male cones...

(Subalpine Fir)

Very tall and narrow in form, subalpine fir looks like a green church spire. A cone-bearing evergreen tree with green needles that have a bluish cast, it is native from the Yukon of Canada southward in the Rocky Mountains to northern Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. Its bark is gray to nearly white, smooth but mildly bumpy.

The short but flattened needles whorl around the tree's twigs. They are dark green but covered in a bluish-white film (called a bloom). In early summer, male cones...

(Corkbark Fir)

Very tall and narrow in form, corkbark fir looks like a silvery green church spire. A cone-bearing evergreen tree with green needles that have a silver-blue cast, this natural variety of the subalpine fir is native to the southern Rocky Mountains in Arizona and New Mexico in the American Southwest. Its soft bark is gray to nearly white, smooth but mildly bumpy, and thicker than the typical subalpine fir.

The short but flattened needles whorl around the tree's twigs. They are dark green but covered...

(Compact Corkbark Fir, Corkbark Fir)

Unlike its parent, the spire-like subalpine fir, compact corkbark fir looks like a silvery green plump pyramid at maturity. A cone-bearing evergreen shrub with green needles that have a silver-blue cast, 'Compacta' was selected from trees native to the southern Rocky Mountains in Arizona and New Mexico in the American Southwest. Its rarely seen soft bark is gray to nearly white, smooth but mildly bumpy, and thicker than the typical subalpine fir.

The short but flattened needles whorl around the...

(Marie's Fir)

Look through the evergreen boughs of Marie's fir to see the ghostly white bark that often is blushed with purple hues. This conifer is a subalpine species native to the mid- and high elevations of the central Japanese island of Honshu. Although a pyramid when young, Marie's fir becomes more oval or flat-topped in silhouette at maturity. The bark is pale gray or brown with a powdery covering known as bloom, occasionally touched with hints of purple. Large, old trees display the ghostly white bole.

Young...

(Nordman Fir)

Nordman fir is a striking evergreen tree that originates from Asia Minor along the southern reaches of the Black Sea. It has an elegant, columnar form with horizontally tiered branches that reach down to the ground. Branches are covered with dense, lustrous, dark green (with a hint of black) needles that are soft to the touch when grasped. The female cones are quite large and narrow, becoming reddish brown when ripe and are displayed in the upper third of the needled canopy. The bark is grayish...

(Nordman Fir)

Nordman fir is a striking evergreen tree that originates from Asia Minor along the southern reaches of the Black Sea. It has an elegant, columnar form with horizontally tiered branches that reach down to the ground. Branches are covered with dense, lustrous, dark green (with a hint of black) needles that are soft to the touch when grasped. The female cones are quite large and narrow, becoming reddish brown when ripe and are displayed in the upper third of the needled canopy. The bark is grayish...

(Nordman Fir)

Nordman fir is a striking evergreen tree that originates from Asia Minor along the southern reaches of the Black Sea. It has an elegant, columnar form with horizontally tiered branches that reach down to the ground. Branches are covered with dense, lustrous, dark green (with a hint of black) needles that are soft to the touch when grasped. The female cones are quite large and narrow, becoming reddish brown when ripe and are displayed in the upper third of the needled canopy. The bark is grayish...