the question i would have.. i how long they were grown at that nursery..

a lot of conifer stock is shipped in in spring ... from the left coast ...

this is one reason i like to buy from nurseries that have their own little arboretums.. to prove that what they sell.. they can grow in their own area ...

you are way to fixated on zone.. in terms of its impact.. across a few miles ... or minutes of drive time ...

and i hope you understand.. zone is mostly about low winter temp ... and your issue might be more along the lines of night summer humidity ... e.g. i am in z5 MI ... and grow a vast number of things that dave in z5 KS cant... and its the fact that he is on the MS river and nights are dank.. in summer ...

otherwise.. i dont know the specific answer to your z7 ...

ken

From what I have seen and heard, Nordmanns are one of the better firs for the Mid Atlantic. Probably a decent choice.

Should be no problem; hardy to zone 5-6 easily.

Resin

I don't have an issue with Abies n 'Golden Spreader' and our humidity and heat here in the summer can be pretty bad.

Put Golden Spreader at zone 6. I had two that died....one next to a Acer palmatum that lived without damage.

Abies nordmanni thrives in southern applachians. ,There are huge, old specimens at "The Biltmore Estate" and the "Asheville Botanical Gardens"

Johnny

This issue is not whether Nordmann fir can survive a "zn 7" summer (or winter). They issue is whether they can survive a US Mid-Atlantic states summer. They most definitely can. I assume you've been to Longwood? Plenty of firs there. They are probably one of the most tolerant non-Asian firs...David Parks says they even grow in the high Piedmont of NC, not just the mountains. MInd you the definition of mid-Atlantic also comes into play here. I definitely wouldn't plant one in the Hampton Roads, but that's 100% the south to my thinking. If you see ironclad rhododendrons in standard residential settings...and you certainly do anywhere in New Castle County Delaware, you can grow Abies nordmanniana. Wholesaler Angelika nursery even produces them on the Eastern Shore.

However, it's not out of the realm of possibility for a PNW or northern tier wholesaler to have a Nordmann fir he/she really likes, and graft it onto something whose roots will not do well long term in the area. Like Abies balsamea or even A. concolor. So make sure it's a seedling.

Hmmmm, I'm trying to think who that could be. (the nursery) Nice looking plant at any rate.

If I may be so bold, your other post on the trees forum about moving 2 20' Parrotia suggests you either have a bit of money to throw at this project or have a friend with a massive tree spade. In either case it's a shame you weren't around a couple summers ago when Dilworth Nursery in Oxford started going out of business. You could have gotten yourself some magnificent conifers for a song. The one that stuck out to my eye was a 15'+ Abies pindrow, bold and glistening in their field...needles so long they look fake. Had to be one of the largest on the east coast as I think they are relatively new to cultivation here. There were other easily spotted rarities like some 'Skylands' spruces. Sadly even though I have great google-fu I only found an auction of their easily moveable assets...it appears a 2 or so acre area of rare conifers was just torn out of the ground and chipped. I hope I'm wrong. If your nursery owner friend is connected feel free to ask him/her if he/she knows what became of their plants.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sat, Aug 9, 14 at 17:21

David,

I'm not sure what nursery owns the field, which is located in West Grove, PA. That's where my parrotia and a Japanese white pine I'm getting are also coming from.

That sounds very unfortunate about the conifer field, I'll try to find out for you. I've only recently gotten into trees since moving to DE a little over a year ago, before that the wife and I were living in a condo in Philly.

S