Abies numidica 'Pendula'. Young plant acquired from Porterhowse. Sits next to many of my other pendulous plants above a six foot rock wall. Should be fun. Abies numidica 'Select'. A great looking tree, similar to Abies pinsapo with stiff, upright needles. It also has a wonderful silvery cast and I can't wait to see the cones! This specimen was surely grafted from a side-branch cut and doesn't know yet to go up! At times, like most collectors I assume, I wish I had several acres to plant all the various wonderful, full-sized specimens. Fortunately I am close to an enormous botanical garden(which will gladly accept transplants) and I am slowly 'acquiring' neighborhood property as I run out of space. The neighbors, for the most part, are very willing to 'volunteer' their property to new conifer plantings - and all I have to do is the work - they pay for the plants and supplies. Nothing like driving to your house and admiring all your hard work and the plants you've helped spread around. -Will

I'm not sure actually Doug. I think I will eventually trim the outer one but I may even let them both be. I'll seek advice from the many conifer experts with more experience this September. All of the firs in this stretch with the exception of one are forming strong upwards leaders, even 'Kohout's Icebreaker'. -Will

Larry.. i will try to simplify it for you ... in a few years.. lol .. your daughter can explain it to you .. lol OD is a descriptive term .... in the olden days... you could name a plant OD .... so there was an OD in a lot of different pines ... as listed above ... they have changed the rules .. and you have to use a real name now ... not a descriptive term ... i think that is the correct way to explain it ... here is an example you might under stand ... Pinus strobus 'Dragon eye Dirty diaper' .. a descriptive term ... lol .. think about it.. rotf .... more properly it should be Pinus strobus 'Pampers' ... or P. s. 'Luvs' or or P. s. 'White Cloud' ... or whatever version you have over the pond ... and you cant have Pinus strobus 'pampers' and a pinus koreansis 'pampers' .. and P thun. 'Pampers' .... the 'pampers' part is 'taken' with the first naming ....thereby avoiding confusion ... especially in Larry's head .. lol ... and mind you, mine.. and every body elses ... your confusion is actually the exact reason for the rule change .... right resin??? any clearer ..??? ken

I have Nordmann and Holophylla at my timberland on the Allegheny Plateau. These grow like natives--no problems at all. I also have A. bornmuelleriana--for a few years this had some spring frost damage, but now that it is taller, it is no longer affected and is growing at the same rate as the Nordmann. But here in the mountains we get really, really late spring frosts--probably much more than lower Michigan. It also looks in its general overall apprarance very similar to the Nordmann. I am also growing concolor, but I prefer the others. Oh, I have one more--A. lasiocarpa (alpine fir), but this is very slow and I would assume you want something faster. But it is a nice compact fir tree. We get a lot of rain here and very, very cool nights--somewhat like its usual mountain environment--so this one may not do so well in lower Michigan. --Spruce