Interesting to see Arizona Cypress do so well in the humid southeast! I am used to seeing it planted in desert yards here in Southern California! White Fir (Concolor Fir) is also native in our mountains!
@@brianpowell5082 Average low is between 15° and 25°, but last winter it dropped to -4°. Before that i saw 8° in 2014. So it can get to the single digits or below zero on rare occaisions.... And those times eliminate any non-hardy trees.
There's a mountain range in San Diego County in Southern California called Palomar Mountain its a relatively lower elevation mountain range between 5-6K ft (which is pretty low for out west) the mountain range straddles zone 9a/8b due to its unique proximity to the Pacific Ocean and there are vast natural wild groves of White Firs up there because the naturally high winter rainfall. The summers are super dry and sometimes days over 90+ (granted its a dry heat compared to eastern USA) I believe its one of the southern most groves other than some small ones south in the mountains down in Mexico in Baja California. I live in the valley below Palomar and we get chilly nights only averaging 8-9 degrees warmer than the mountain top at night sometimes in the 30s in October and I'm only 15 miles inland and 600ft elevation. Micro climate is everything it can make a big difference and possibly afternoon or heat of the day shade like shelter from a big native tree could help too with zone pushing these trees.
San Diego county has a amazing variety of biomes! Impressive to hear about the white firs... they seem to be resilient and adaptable. Still... grafting them onto momi fir rootstock is a proven method of combating phytophthora root rot in this part of the country (TN).
The White Firs on Palomar grow at surprisingly low elevations as well. Typically in So Cal, they are found above 5,500', but on Palomar, I've seen them down to 4,500' or even locally lower!! White Fir (and Incense-Cedar) are so prevalent (dominant) in spots (Doane Valley) due to fire suppression, as cedars and firs proliferate so much in the absence of fire. That same suppression denies the pines there (Coulter, Jeffrey, and Ponderosa) the chance to regenerate as they need more sun to grow than the shade tolerant cedars and firs! Calflora also vouchers a few spots of Sugar Pines on Palomar, but when I went to where the vouchers were, I found Coulter Pine and Bigcone Douglas-Firs. There are also remnants of White Firs (post Cedar Fire 2003) also left on Cuyamaca Peak. The Cuyamacas have a very similar climate to the Palomar Range but have had such devastation from the fire 20 years ago!
@@brianpowell5082 Incense cedar is one of my favorite, and they seem to grow well here in Tennessee! I wish i could get my hands on a big-cone douglas fir, but from what i can tell they are rare in cultivation, even in SoCal.
@@moseseisley557 I've been lucky to see several Incense-Cedars in cultivation in So Cal, from Orange County, L.A., and San Diego, even in coastal and low elevation foothill areas. They actually take heat quite well! Incense-Cedar is also a perennial favorite of mine, and find it neat that they do se well in your area! I've even heard of someone in Oklahoma growing them,. and they were doing well too!
thanks for the info. i go to palomar often. can't believe i have missed the white firs. people have planted sequoias there and there are some interesting types of conifers at mount laguna. are there white firs in mount laguna too?
surprised vaderwolf which is a limber pine cultivar would grow in hot areas since limber pine usually lives at high elevation and in extreme conditions like the bristlecone pine
I found a colorado blue spruce xmas tree that was thrown away in January 2024. It was so beautiful I couldn’t watch it being thrown away so i brought it back home and put it in a bucket of water. It’s July now and the tree isn’t dead. 😁. In fact there are baby pine cones growing on the branches. Has anyone seen this or heard of this? There’s no roots forming but the tree isn’t dead and baby pine cones are forming and growing. Can this tree be hydroponically grown in this water bucket?
@@whatsthis2013 Wow, that's funny! No, i don't think it can be hydroponically grown, but it is a cool experiment to see how long it will survive in that form. If you want to try growing a real blue spruce you can usually find them at lowes/home depot. Wait till the fall to plant, and choose a full-sun, preferably windy, location away from other trees or plants, where it will never get hit by overhead irrigation. Bonus points if you add a wide margin of rock mulch around the base. All of these strategies are trying to keep the foliage dry and prevent spores from splashing onto the lower branches.
@@moseseisley557 thanks for responding and giving me tips and suggestions! i added alaska fish fertilizer and morbloom to the bucket of water. If everything goes well and the tree is still alive after the summer, i will upload a video of the tree because i think it’s amazing too!
Actually i just found out that evergreenplantnursery.com is selling them so i bought one. How do you have so many and how old are yours? Where are you growing them and what has been your expierience with disease resistance?
I live in Tennessee (zone 6b/1200 elevation) would Blue Spruce not do well at my location too? Would the varieties of blue cedars on your list cause cedar apple rust on my apple trees?
Colorado blue spruce is plagued by rhizosphaera needlecast statewide due to the humidity. Sometimes you will find a rare one doing well, but why gamble? The "blue cedars" are cedrus deodara "karl fuchs", which can handle the cold of zone 6b, and juniperus virginiana, which is native to TN. Growing apple trees is a misguided endeavor based on what i have see... totally destroyed by multiple fungul infections - not just gymnosporangium. For fruit grow pawpaw, persimmon, jujube, and che.
I don't think being dwarf would matter. I have seen a few successful picea pungens in TN and it all has to do with growing conditions. Here is the ideal location if you have no choice but to grow colorado blue spruce: full sun, north-facing slope, far away from all other trees / plants / houses, no sprinklers, large margin of white rock mulch only, windy location if possible. This is all designed to deprive rhizosphaera spores of a way to splash onto the tree and keep the foliage dry and irradiated with UV light.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful response! I do have those growing conditions here in Chattanooga so I might just give it a go. I'll let you know if it works! @@moseseisley557
@@ericagerard6087 Also, forgot to say: Standard size fast growing blue spruce is acually better than dwarf because in about 10 years you can start to limb-up the tree. Eventually you will have a tree where the lowest foliage is so high off the ground that it will be impossible for spores to infect it, then the rest is easy.
Yes, two of them and they are growing well. I only lost one due to deer damage... a buck was rubbing his antlers and destroyed the tree. I recommend blue atlas cedars for sloping sites, but don't forget to water during dry spells.
Interesting to see Arizona Cypress do so well in the humid southeast! I am used to seeing it planted in desert yards here in Southern California! White Fir (Concolor Fir) is also native in our mountains!
I learned last winter that only select cultivars of arizona cupress are cold hardy here. Apparently "Blue Ice" is the only one that can.
@@moseseisley557 What are your average low winter temps? Just curious!
@@brianpowell5082 Average low is between 15° and 25°, but last winter it dropped to -4°. Before that i saw 8° in 2014. So it can get to the single digits or below zero on rare occaisions.... And those times eliminate any non-hardy trees.
@@moseseisley557 Very true! Those exceptional lows are quite striking!
There's a mountain range in San Diego County in Southern California called Palomar Mountain its a relatively lower elevation mountain range between 5-6K ft (which is pretty low for out west) the mountain range straddles zone 9a/8b due to its unique proximity to the Pacific Ocean and there are vast natural wild groves of White Firs up there because the naturally high winter rainfall. The summers are super dry and sometimes days over 90+ (granted its a dry heat compared to eastern USA) I believe its one of the southern most groves other than some small ones south in the mountains down in Mexico in Baja California. I live in the valley below Palomar and we get chilly nights only averaging 8-9 degrees warmer than the mountain top at night sometimes in the 30s in October and I'm only 15 miles inland and 600ft elevation. Micro climate is everything it can make a big difference and possibly afternoon or heat of the day shade like shelter from a big native tree could help too with zone pushing these trees.
San Diego county has a amazing variety of biomes! Impressive to hear about the white firs... they seem to be resilient and adaptable. Still... grafting them onto momi fir rootstock is a proven method of combating phytophthora root rot in this part of the country (TN).
The White Firs on Palomar grow at surprisingly low elevations as well. Typically in So Cal, they are found above 5,500', but on Palomar, I've seen them down to 4,500' or even locally lower!! White Fir (and Incense-Cedar) are so prevalent (dominant) in spots (Doane Valley) due to fire suppression, as cedars and firs proliferate so much in the absence of fire. That same suppression denies the pines there (Coulter, Jeffrey, and Ponderosa) the chance to regenerate as they need more sun to grow than the shade tolerant cedars and firs! Calflora also vouchers a few spots of Sugar Pines on Palomar, but when I went to where the vouchers were, I found Coulter Pine and Bigcone Douglas-Firs. There are also remnants of White Firs (post Cedar Fire 2003) also left on Cuyamaca Peak. The Cuyamacas have a very similar climate to the Palomar Range but have had such devastation from the fire 20 years ago!
@@brianpowell5082 Incense cedar is one of my favorite, and they seem to grow well here in Tennessee! I wish i could get my hands on a big-cone douglas fir, but from what i can tell they are rare in cultivation, even in SoCal.
@@moseseisley557 I've been lucky to see several Incense-Cedars in cultivation in So Cal, from Orange County, L.A., and San Diego, even in coastal and low elevation foothill areas. They actually take heat quite well! Incense-Cedar is also a perennial favorite of mine, and find it neat that they do se well in your area! I've even heard of someone in Oklahoma growing them,. and they were doing well too!
thanks for the info. i go to palomar often. can't believe i have missed the white firs. people have planted sequoias there and there are some interesting types of conifers at mount laguna. are there white firs in mount laguna too?
surprised vaderwolf which is a limber pine cultivar would grow in hot areas since limber pine usually lives at high elevation and in extreme conditions like the bristlecone pine
Your skepticism is well founded: There is some debate about whether the Vanderwolf pyramid is pinus flexilis or pinus strobiformis.
@@moseseisley557 very interesting! this is why i love conifers. so diverse and so much to learn abt them.
I found a colorado blue spruce xmas tree that was thrown away in January 2024. It was so beautiful I couldn’t watch it being thrown away so i brought it back home and put it in a bucket of water. It’s July now and the tree isn’t dead. 😁. In fact there are baby pine cones growing on the branches. Has anyone seen this or heard of this? There’s no roots forming but the tree isn’t dead and baby pine cones are forming and growing. Can this tree be hydroponically grown in this water bucket?
@@whatsthis2013 Wow, that's funny! No, i don't think it can be hydroponically grown, but it is a cool experiment to see how long it will survive in that form. If you want to try growing a real blue spruce you can usually find them at lowes/home depot. Wait till the fall to plant, and choose a full-sun, preferably windy, location away from other trees or plants, where it will never get hit by overhead irrigation. Bonus points if you add a wide margin of rock mulch around the base. All of these strategies are trying to keep the foliage dry and prevent spores from splashing onto the lower branches.
@@moseseisley557 thanks for responding and giving me tips and suggestions! i added alaska fish fertilizer and morbloom to the bucket of water. If everything goes well and the tree is still alive after the summer, i will upload a video of the tree because i think it’s amazing too!
@@whatsthis2013 The real test will be if the tree survives winter time when transpiration drops off dramatically.
If you want more Lijang spruces I have a bunch.
Actually i just found out that evergreenplantnursery.com is selling them so i bought one. How do you have so many and how old are yours? Where are you growing them and what has been your expierience with disease resistance?
I live in Tennessee (zone 6b/1200 elevation) would Blue Spruce not do well at my location too? Would the varieties of blue cedars on your list cause cedar apple rust on my apple trees?
Colorado blue spruce is plagued by rhizosphaera needlecast statewide due to the humidity. Sometimes you will find a rare one doing well, but why gamble? The "blue cedars" are cedrus deodara "karl fuchs", which can handle the cold of zone 6b, and juniperus virginiana, which is native to TN. Growing apple trees is a misguided endeavor based on what i have see... totally destroyed by multiple fungul infections - not just gymnosporangium. For fruit grow pawpaw, persimmon, jujube, and che.
what about a dwarf blue spruce? Do you think those would be ok in Tennessee?
I don't think being dwarf would matter. I have seen a few successful picea pungens in TN and it all has to do with growing conditions. Here is the ideal location if you have no choice but to grow colorado blue spruce: full sun, north-facing slope, far away from all other trees / plants / houses, no sprinklers, large margin of white rock mulch only, windy location if possible. This is all designed to deprive rhizosphaera spores of a way to splash onto the tree and keep the foliage dry and irradiated with UV light.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful response! I do have those growing conditions here in Chattanooga so I might just give it a go. I'll let you know if it works! @@moseseisley557
@@ericagerard6087 You're welcome, and good luck!
@@ericagerard6087 Also, forgot to say: Standard size fast growing blue spruce is acually better than dwarf because in about 10 years you can start to limb-up the tree. Eventually you will have a tree where the lowest foliage is so high off the ground that it will be impossible for spores to infect it, then the rest is easy.
That's a really good point! And much easier to acquire than the dwarf @@moseseisley557
Do you still have Blue Atlas Cedar?
Yes, two of them and they are growing well. I only lost one due to deer damage... a buck was rubbing his antlers and destroyed the tree. I recommend blue atlas cedars for sloping sites, but don't forget to water during dry spells.