Hi Azalee, None of them put on the brakes and stop growing at a specific height, even though many slow down with maturity. A popular one lots of people enjoy that you may be interested in is called Abies koreana 'Gait'. Do a search and see what you think. The web has some great photos,and you can also search this conifer forum as well.

Al

Abies koreana 'Silver Show' . comes pretty close. 8ft in 10years and

. I believe Ken and Dan (dansgrdn) have posted pictures of this cultivar with cones in the past. It cones early, but still takes about 5+ years

Another one that might work is Abies balsamea 'Tyler Blue'. 6ft x 4ft in years. Edwin has a nice picture posted HERE

This post was edited by SC77 on Mon, Oct 28, 13 at 21:19

i thought.. in my very special z5 MI ... i was the only one who could grow A kor ....

as the further south you go... the less likely you are of success ...

you really didnt ask if the plant was going to live in your zone 7 ????

if it wont.. cone color might not be the definitive variable to choose on...

take a latin name.. and add ANNUAL GROWTH RATE ... and on searching.. you will find out how fast they grow up ... MOST size estimates are that growth rate times ten [or take the estimate.. and divide by 10 ... for the same info .. backwards ..]

presume at 20 years.. it will be twice as big.. 3 times at 3 decades ... etc ...

coning cant take up to 10 years ... to start ... so you might want to focus on color .. texture.. and growth rate... before you ever get to cone color ....

ken

zone info.. is basically min winter temp ... and that info is useless ... as to survival ...

what might make a giant difference is summer humidity.. temp drop in summer evenings.. etc ...

dave.. in z5 KCity ... can NOT grow a lot of stuff that i can grow in my Z5 MI ...

and i think he explains it as damp, humid mississippi river night heat and humidity ...

we need to know where you are in z7 ... big city ... if you are in rural hot VA.. thats a whole other world from mountainous NC for example ... both having the same min winter cold ..

some people speak of a night time recovery period... which is the key to success .... during which a plant.. can overcome the stresses of the day ...

more info please

ken

If you can be patient, look for this one...

Abies koreana 'Blue Magic' (Photo from Henksgarden). This specimen is probably between 10-15 years old.

My own younger specimen. Probably five years old.

Slow small growth(as stated before, no conifer STOPS growing), beautiful colors, magical colored cones(often purple/blue), and a nice, uniform habit, once it gets going.

-Will

i see wills zone is similar ... but the PNWest is not virginia.. both z7/8

where are you.. and can you grow A.k.???

ken