5' for $79...why are you even asking? That is 10 years worth of growth if I'm not mistaken. Its a seedling of Silberlocke only with longer needles.

In my book it would be worth a shot, ecspecially if you have a east location for it.

That was my thought. The deal is a good one. The tree is so great I would remove another tree to make room for it on the east side if the house. My real question is, can I keep this thing alive through the summers. I don't want to make a place only to have it die. How has this performed in those warmer climates with afternoon shade, but open to south wind.

Just a couple of miles south of you and have tried both Silver Show and Silberlocke multiple times with no luck. If it gets any direct sun in the summer it is toast here.

I have one Icebreaker still alive that is in almost full shade.

mark

So even full afternoon shade is not enough? Morning to noon sun is too much? Thanks for the heads up. You wonder why they would sell those if they dont stand a chance.

Perhaps a 5' speciman would do much better with just morning sun. Maybe Tex starting out with 1g. pots?

You'll never know unless you plant it!

In the end your locale will know best. Take Tex's feedback and call a couple other nurseries and ask them about Abies koreana for your area.

Be aware of micro climate and soil differences in your conversations. Most of the SE WI nurseries have clay soil and all stated Abies struggle in my area...but hello my area just a few miles away is a pocket of clay loam and sandy. Neighbors have amazing specimans of Abies concolor.

As I said in my note above, I do have an Icebreaker that is doing pretty well in almost full shade. But I have grown several koreana's from one gallons to 5' tall B&B's and can tell you if it gets direct sun, especially mid-day or afternoon sun, it will burn here. I also have a Gelbbunt that is doing pretty well so far with only a couple of hours of morning sun.

In fact I haven't had virtually any luck with any Abies in this area other than in pretty full shade. The ony exceptions have been Abies proceras. I am constantly pushing the envelope trying to micro-climate and raise things beyond their comfort zones. But it's high risk here and I know judging by most of your posts here you are a person that want's fairly low risk. So I'm just trying to give you fair warning.

As for why retailers sell them here, other than the specialized local nurseries, like for us TLC, most big box stores just get a precentage of what a general buyer splits up from a major buy. Not much attention is paid to zoning on a lot of the larger nursery stock. I think now that Home Depot and Lowes are starting to offer the one year guarantee, that will change soon and they'll educate their sales staff better as well.

mark