NEEDLE BURN ON WHITE FIR, AND ENOUGH OF PRETTY ALREADY!

NEEDLE BURN ON WHITE FIR...

...CLOSEUP OF DAMAGE;
NOTE UPWARD SWEEP OF NEEDLES ON BRANCHES, WHICH IS TYPICAL OF FIRS)

NEW SNOW ON HEDGE MAPLE;
ENOUGH OF PRETTY ALREADY!!

Saturday, 9:00 AM.  10 degrees F, wind WNW, light to moderate with moderate gusts.  The sky is mostly clear except for some very high thin white clouds blowing in with the cold high pressure system.  The humidity is 72% and the barometer is rising, now at 30.34".  It is a pretty day, although chilly.

   The white, or concolor fir, Abies  concolor, is native to the mountains of Southwestern North America (Colorado to southern California, New Mexico, northern Mexico) and as a montane species adapted to the cold conditions of high elevations is hardy to Zone 3.  It grows best on rocky, well drained soils with ample moisture.  It does not tolerate clay very well.  The tree pictured has always looked good, but has a lot of needle burn from this winter.  Our native balsam firs do not seem to have been similarly damaged.  The concolor fir is rather broadly conical and has a blue to blue-green needle color that is much like that of the popular Colorado blue spruce, which has some problems of its own.  It is fine to plant such trees for their color, shape and texture, but be aware of their shortcomings.

   Firs can be easily identified by the upward curvature of their soft, non-prickly needles, and by their cones, which are held upright on the branches (spruce cones hang down).  The needles of the Douglas fir (which is not a true fir but a separate genus, Pseudotsuga) are attached to the branch horizontally, like those of yews (Taxus species).

   The new snowfall is very pretty, but enough already!