(European Silver Fir, Silver Fir)

A densely needled ornamental conifer, the European silver fir selection 'Pyramidalis' has deep green needles with a silvery underside. It was found as a sport on a silver fir growing in England in 1851. Native to southern Europe's mountains, from the Pyrennes eastward across the Alps and into the Caucusus, its shape lends it to more ornate uses in park and garden settings than the parent species. The smooth gray bark will eventually crack into plates.

The branches often grow upwards at an angle...

(Pacific Silver Fir)

A very tall, spire-like evergreen in the wild, the Pacific silver fir remains much shorter and more pyramidal in form when grown in gardens. Native to the panhandle of Alaska southward to Victoria Island and western Oregon's Cascade range, this fir prospers where summers are moist and cool and winters cold and snowy. The bark is light gray and smooth but with age, the trunk displays plates floating on an underbark of reddish brown.

New branch shoots emerge at right angles in opposite pairs,...

(Pacific Silver Fir)

A very tall, spire-like evergreen in the wild, the Pacific silver fir remains much shorter and more pyramidal in form when grown in gardens. Native to the panhandle of Alaska southward to Victoria Island and western Oregon's Cascade range, this fir prospers where summers are moist and cool and winters cold and snowy. The bark is light gray and smooth but with age, the trunk displays plates floating on an underbark of reddish brown.

New branch shoots emerge at right angles in opposite pairs,...

(Balsam Fir)

Balsam fir is a tall coniferous evergreen tree native to the northeastern fifth of the United States and extreme southern Canada. It has a fine pyramidal form, is slow growing and becomes a very tall tree when mature. Its small deep green needles are soft, glossy and smell of sweet balsam. The female cones are full of resin and are brown when mature, and shatter readily when dry. This tree offers year round interest and provides habitat to wildlife, including foliage eaten by deer.

Plants excel...

(Balsam Fir, Dwarf Balsam Fir)

Dwarf balsam fir is a compact evergreen shrub with fragrant balsam-scented foliage. A very slow growing dwarf, 'Nana' offers year-round interest because of its dense deep green needles and rounded silhouette. When it matures, the shrub's top may become more flattened.

Grow the dwarf balsam fir in full sun to partial shade in a slightly acidic well-drained soil. Evenly moist soil that is cooled with an organic mulch is best. Shade from hot, intense mid-afternoon summer sun keeps the needle quality...

(Bracted Balsam Fir, Canaan Fir)

Balsams are such beautiful evergreen trees for the north, especially this super hardy variety. Canaan fir is naturally distributed in the northeastern United States and Canada. It is distinguished by its hardiness, tight pyramidal form with short ascending branches, and distinctive cones, which have long papery bracts extending from the scales.

This tall coniferous evergreen tree develops a fine pyramidal form, but is slow growing. Its fragrant flattened needles are lustrous and dark green above...

(Bornmueller's Fir)

Rare in cultivation but occurring naturally only in a small area of northwestern Turkey, Bornmueller's fir has a controversial identity. While some taxonomists consider it nothing more that a variant of the Caucasian or Nordman's fir (Abies nordmanniana), others think it arose from the natural hybridization of the Nordman's fir with the Greek fir (A. cephalonica). Regardless of origin, this pyramidal but narrow evergreen tree demonstrates increased tolerance to heavier textured...

(Grecian Fir, Greek Fir)

The highlands of Greece reveal stands of this tall evergreen conifer, appropriately known as the Grecian fir. It grows on calcareous and alkaline soils at elevations between 1,800 and 7,000 feet. When mature, the tree's silhouette is a tall, broadly pyramid with horizontal branches.

When young, the Grecian fir has smooth, reddish brown branches, but with age the bark is gray with streaks of pink and brown on fissured, oblong plates. The flattened needles are glossy dark green with a whitish...

(Cilician Fir)

A beautiful evergreen tree, the Cilician fir produces a pointy top and dense foliage and branches that grow on upward-growing branches that persist on the lowest parts of the trunk. This slow-growing conifer is native to highland pockets from Lebanon and northern Syria northward into south-central Turkey. It matures with a narrow, pyramid-like silhouette with ash-gray bark that becomes fissured and plated with great age.

Needles spread upward and forward in two ranks on the occasionally fuzzy...

(White Fir)

Widely adaptable with a striking silvery light blue color, white fir is a pyramidal evergreen tree native to western North America, from southwestern Canada to northern Baja California. This large coniferous tree is admired for its short, soft needles of silvery blue-green and its dense symmetrical habit. The female cones are green when immature, then brown at maturity, usually only found in the upper third of the canopy. Its bark is whitish gray and new twigs have a yellow-green hue and are slightly...