General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Tree
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Soil pH Preferences: Very strongly acid (4.5 – 5.0)
Strongly acid (5.1 – 5.5)
Moderately acid (5.6 – 6.0)
Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 7b
Plant Height: 40-70 feet
Plant Spread: 20-30 feet
Leaves: Evergreen
Fragrant
Needled
Other: Best in full sun. Soft, flattened, pale blue-green needles (to 2 1/2" long) have uniform coloration on both surfaces
Uses: Provides winter interest
Resistances: Drought tolerant
Pollinators: Wind
Miscellaneous: Tolerates poor soil
Monoecious
Conservation status: Least Concern (LC)

Conservation status:
Conservation status: Least Concern
Image
Common names
  • White Fir
  • Colorado Fir
  • Concolor Fir
  • Silver Fir
  • White Balsam
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Abies concolor
  • Synonym: Abies lowiana

Photo Gallery
Location: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Date: 2023-02-23
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: 2012-08-14
two trees planted in park in downtown
Location: Aurora, Illinois
Date: winter in 1980's
soft, bluish needles
Location: Salt Lake Community College-Jordan Campus, West Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2021-12-07
Location: Ray Wiegand's Nursery, Macomb, MI
Date: 2015-07-05
Location: Ray Wiegand's Nursery, Macomb, MI
Date: 2015-07-05

Date: 2012-11-23

Date: 2021
"Abies concolor can quickly be distinguished from A. grandis by t
Location: Cuyamaca State Park 
Date: 2018-05-04
Young tree planted by rangers in a reforestation effort from the
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2018-06-25
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2018-04-28
Pollen cones.
Location: Ray Wiegand's Nursery, Macomb, MI
Date: 2015-07-05
Location: Ray Wiegand's Nursery, Macomb, MI
Date: 2015-07-05
Location: Susquehannock State Park in southeast PA
Date: 2020-06-20
mature specimen planted in park
Location: Susquehannock State Park in southeast PA
Date: 2020-06-20
mature specimen planted in park
Location: Susquehannock State Park in southeast PA
Date: 2020-06-20
summer foliage
Location: Aurora, Illinois
Date: winter in 1980's
tall specimen in yard

Date: c. 1917
photo from Wilson's 'Aristocrats of the Garden', 1917
Location: Susquehannock State Park in southeast PA
Date: 2020-06-20
looking inside of foliage at trunk and limbs

Date: 2012-11-23

Date: 2012-11-23

Date: 2012-11-23
Location: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
Date: June
credit: SEWilco
Location: Akureyri Botanical Gardens
credit: Hedwig Storch
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2021-02-04
Location: Cuyamaca State Park 
Date: 2018-05-04
Location: Michigan State University Hidden Lake Garden, Tipton, MI
Date: 2012-02-18
Location: Michigan State University Hidden Lake Garden, Tipton, MI
Date: 2012-02-18
Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Oct 18, 2018 10:19 AM concerning plant:
    White or Concolor Fir is native to the Rocky Mountains in southeast Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and a little into far northern Mexico; and from southern Oregon down through the mountains of California almost to Mexico; growing in dry rocky slopes down to along rocky streams. It is occasionally sold by larger conventional nurseries in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and upper South of the US. It makes a good quality and reliable landscape evergreen tree. In landscapes it grows in youth about 1 foot/year and it lives over 300 years in nature. It has soft, flat, blue-green needles about 2 to 3 inches long. It bears olive-green to purple-brown erect cones that fall apart upon maturity, like other Fir. I've never seen the cones in the more eastern side of the US. It has a shallow, lateral, spreading root system that allows it to be easily transplanted. I prefer the soft beauty of this coniferous tree over that of the Blue Colorado Spruce; the latter being very painfully, prickly. In its western homeland it gets to be about 100 to 150 feet high with a 2 to 4 feet diameter trunk. In landscapes of the eastern side of the US, it gets about 30 to 60 feet high by about 15 feet wide.

« Add a new plant to the database

« The Plants Database Front Page