Abies

The Khingan fir is native to north-east Asia, growing mainly east and south-east of the Sea of Okhotsk, with isolated stands as far south as the Korean mountains. The species is closely related to the Siberian fir (Abies sibirica), and it may be considered an intermediate between the Siberian and the Sakhalin fir (Abies sachalinensis). A hybrid form of the Manchurian and Siberian firs (Abies x sibirico-nephrolepis) occurs in northern Manchuria.

The Khingan fir is quietly elegant, with a regular, dense crown. It is rather slow-growing for a fir but extremely cold-hardy. At Mustila it has suffered no snow damage, although the angle of the branches is low in comparison with the Siberian fir, which is native to snowier areas. There has been little sign of deterioration with aging, the crowns having remained beautifully dense. So far the species has been little grown in Finland so its northern limit is uncertain, but it may well extend right up into Lapland.

The tight-growing Maries’ fir is a rare beauty in Finland, despite its small size and slow growth making it ideal for smaller gardens. The close-growing needles and regular whorls of branches give the species an appearance reminiscent of club moss or ferns, rather similar to that of the Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis). The species is native to the mountain forests of Japan’s Honshu Island, so prefers a rather maritime climate, in Finland growing best near the south coast.

Maries’ fir has been growing at Mustila for about 100 years. Seeds of unknown provenance were acquired from Japan in 1908 and 1909. The record-breaking cold winter of 1939–1940 destroyed many of the trees but those which survived have since proved totally hardy.

The Subalpine fir, generally blue-grey in colour, is native to North America. It is closely related to the more eastern Balsam fir (Abies balsamea), but they each have adapted to their individual range, the Subalpine fir to the western mountainous areas of North America.

Being a continental mountain species, Supalpine fir is liable to damage by spring frosts but is otherwise hardy to severe winter conditions. Provenance greatly affects its success in different parts of Finland. At its best, Subalpine fir is an excellent landscape tree, useful also to florists for its foliage, not to mention its use as a Christmas tree. It is, however, rather short-lived for a conifer – at Mustila, for example, all the 80-year-old Subalpine firs suffer from butt rot.

The outward appearance of the species displays great intra-specific variation, generally the more southerly stands have more bright bluish or silvery grey needles. The Arizona provenances have been named corkbark fir (Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica).