Abies balsamea

• Grow your own Balsam Fir, a prized Christmas Tree species!
• 100% guaranteed
• Seed-grown on California's Redwood Coast
• Transplanting and care instructions included
  
  
  

Highlights

	Moisture Low
	Cold Hardiness -40°F
	Light Full Sun / Partial Shade
	Size 60 – 80' tall / 10 – 20' spread
	Lifespan 200 yrs
	Growth Rate Slow Growing
	Drought Tolerance Low
	Wind Resistance High

Tree Story

About Balsam Fir

Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) is valued for its spicy fragrance, fine form, and wonderful color. It is a prized Christmas Tree species, and the most aromatic and cold-hardy of all true firs. This tree grows in a vast range in the Northeast United States and throughout Canada, doing best in cool climates with abundant moisture. Still, it can thrive in a wide array of settings and soil types, from sea level to over 6,000 feet in elevation.

A small to medium-sized tree, Balsam Fir features short, blunt needles in a bluish-green color, and, when mature, produces vertical 2 to 4 inch-long radiantly purple cones in its crown. Balsam Firs grow to a maximum height of around 100 feet tall, but are usually considerably shorter. They grow in a neat, pyramidal form with a dense crown that terminates in a slender spire.

The most widely distributed fir in North America, Balsam Firs are wrapped in thin, ash-gray bark punctuated by numerous blisters filled with sticky, fragrant, liquid resin. Many animals — from Moose to birds — rely on Balsam Fir for food and shelter, and the resin has been used by humans for everything from pulmonary medicine to canoe sealant to deodorant to a specialized microscope slide cover glue used in the optics industry. This species is shade tolerant, has a relatively shallow root system (typically reaching no lower than 3 feet), and can live for 200 years.