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Conifers are remote but well worth exploring

While the Romans used fir trees to decorate their homes for the New Year, Christians used evergreens as a sign of eternal life.

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Most Prairie readers are familiar with the pines and spruces that are often found in urban and country gardens.

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Larch and fir are rare and sometimes hard to come by, but they make wonderful additions to our landscape.

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Try them! you won’t be disappointed.

Fir (fir)

Botanical names can tell us a lot about our plants. Abies comes from the Latin word abire (to rise), referring to the height of the tree. Although firs are tall, they tend to grow very symmetrically, especially when young. The common English name fir comes from Old Norse fyri, or Old Danish fyr.

In ancient times, people used its branches to decorate their homes during the winter solstice to remind them of the arrival of spring. While the Romans used fir trees to decorate their homes for the New Year, Christians used evergreen trees as a sign of eternal life, which were later used as his Christmas tree. Their needles are soft, cuddly (unlike spruce!), very fragrant, and appear flat, although they are actually two-sided.

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Plant the fir in a sheltered place, protected from dry winds. They do best with even moisture and should be mulched for the first few years to ensure adequate moisture until the root system becomes more extensive.

Three species are doing well in the prairie.

balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is native to the boreal forest regions from the eastern coast of Canada to the Rocky Mountains. It usually grows alongside poplar, birch and spruce. Long grown as a Christmas tree, its sap is the source of Canada Balsam, which is used to mount specimens on microscope slides. It is also a component of fragrance.

10-15 meters high and 3-6 meters wide. Dark green needles with two white lines on the underside are arranged in a spiral on the twigs. The purple, erect cones on the branches turn brown when ripe. The bark of young balsam firs is smooth and silvery gray with prominent resinous blisters. With age, it forms rectangular plates.

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Balsam fir grows best in moist, well-drained loamy soils and in full sun to partial shade, but can adapt to a wide variety of growing conditions.

Abies balsamea ‘Nana’ is an attractive dwarf form, a shrub only 0.6m x 1.2m, densely branched and globose. It is often used as an accent plant or mixborder.

siberian fir (Abies sibirica), native to Siberia, China and other parts of Asia, is similar in appearance to the balsam fir, narrow pyramidal but slightly shorter. It was first described in 1833 by the German-Estonian botanist Karl Friedrich von Redebour, who wrote a comprehensive flora of the Russian Empire. The soft green needles are highly aromatic. It is the northernmost fir in the world, but it starts growing very early and can be damaged by late spring frosts. It tolerates shade and dry environments better than other firs.

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alpine fir, subalpine fir or rocky mountain fir (Abies lasiocarpa) should be much more readily available than it actually is. It is hardy, drought-tolerant, fast-growing, absolutely gorgeous, and (almost) instantly gratifying. (meaning ) and refers to a rough conical shape.

Native to the mountains of Alberta and British Columbia, it is tall and imposing and has a relatively narrow expanse (10–20 m x 4–6 m), so it is small where space is limited. Perfect for landscapes. The dense, pyramidal, smooth ash-gray bark breaks into grayish-brown plates with age. The flat needles are dark greyish-green to bluish-green with two white lines on the underside. Plant alpine firs in well-drained soil in full sun, as they are probably less tolerant than other fir species in moist soil conditions.

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Sara Williams is the author and co-author of many books, including Creating the Prairie Xeriscape, Gardening Naturally with Hugh Skinner, and the recently published Growing Fruit in Northern Gardens with Bob Bors. She continues to offer workshops on a wide range of gardening topics throughout the prairies.

This column is courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society, who can be reached by email at saskperennial@hotmail.com. Check out his website at www.saskperennial.ca or our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/saskperennial for a list of upcoming horticultural events.

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Conifers are remote but well worth exploring

Source link Conifers are remote but well worth exploring

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