2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Fir (Latin Abies) - coniferous tree of the Pine family (Pinaceae). Under natural conditions, fir grows in the mountainous regions of the subtropical and temperate zones of Eastern and Central Europe, Siberia, the Far East, North America, North Africa, as well as in Korea, China, the Himalayas and Japan. Currently, about 40 species of fir are known, but not all of them are used in landscape gardening design, since some specimens reach a height of 60 m.
Characteristics of culture
Fir is a powerful evergreen tree with a beautiful cone-shaped crown starting at the base of the trunk. Fir is one of the noblest plants of the Pine family, appreciated for the beauty of the needles and the symmetrical pyramidal shape. The needles of the plant are very fragrant, dark green in color with two whitish stripes from the bottom. Some species have blue-green or gray-green needles.
The flowers of the culture are monoecious, hardly noticeable. Male flowers are presented in the form of earrings, made up of a large number of cones, carrying two pollen sacs from below, female flowers in the form of standing cones, on the shafts of which covering narrow and long scales are formed. Fir cones develop over several decades and are located on the top of the tree, do not completely fall off, only gradually after the scales mature. The root system of the plant is quite powerful and pivotal.
Growing conditions
Fir is a shade-tolerant culture, but it develops best and forms a typical crown shape in well-lit areas. Young plants need shading. Fir is moisture-loving, prefers cool grounds, although some forms can easily tolerate elevated temperatures.
The culture is sensitive to air pollution and demanding on soil conditions. It is advisable to grow fir on moderately moist, fertile, loose, drained soils with a neutral pH reaction. The plant has a negative attitude towards waterlogged, saline, acidified soils.
Reproduction, planting and transplanting
Fir is propagated by seeds, cuttings, layering and grafting. Seeds are sown in spring or autumn under a shelter. Fir seeds need preliminary stratification. For the first 5-10 years, plants grow very slowly, later the rate of development increases significantly. Only freshly harvested seeds should be used for sowing. It is believed that the seed method does not allow preserving the characteristics of the mother plant, therefore, most often, fir is propagated by cuttings.
Cuttings are cut in the spring before bud awakening exclusively from young plants. Cuttings are planted in open ground before rooting. The optimum temperature for rooting planting material is 20-23C. Rooted cuttings are transplanted to a permanent place, the distance between plants should vary from 2.5 to 5 m. Culture is rarely propagated by layering, since this method does not guarantee a plant with a beautiful conical shape; in most cases, fir grows creeping and lopsided.
Fir transplant is carried out in early spring before the buds swell or in autumn. Important: it is not recommended to deepen the root collar. At a young age, the fir easily tolerates a transplant, but adult plants have a negative attitude towards this procedure. After transplanting, the plants require abundant watering and regular spraying.
Care
Fir care is standard for all ornamental shrubs and trees. The culture needs watering, which is carried out 2-3 times per season (at the rate of 15-20 liters per 1 plant). In drought, the plant requires spraying. The trunks of young firs should be loosened regularly, and it is also advisable to mulch them with sawdust, peat or chips with a layer of 5-10 cm.
In the spring, sanitary pruning is carried out: dry and damaged branches are removed. The culture does not need formative pruning. Top dressing with complex mineral and organic fertilizers is produced only for young specimens. Some types of fir are not frost-resistant, and they require winter shelter, for example, spruce branches or lutrasil.
Application
Fir is a highly ornamental plant, it fits perfectly into the landscape design of even small household plots. Most often, fir is used in group, specimen and alley plantings. The culture is also grown near water bodies. Some forms are used to create non-cut hedges. Dwarf fir looks perfect in rocky gardens - rockeries and rock gardens.
It goes well with other low-growing conifers, perennials and soil plants. Also, fir is in harmony with maples, white-trunk birches, spruce, pine and larch. Fir needles are not used as mulch or winter shelter, since they are dense enough and do not allow the necessary amount of sunlight to pass through to the roots of plants.
