You are right. That's looking fantastic.

It's a conifer that is relatively slow growing (although mine is picking up speed) and compact, which should lend itself to contemporary gardens. I normally see cold hardiness listed as z5, but it sure seems to be fully hardy in z4 Wisconsin. My spouse is upset that it is starting to block the view of the dwarf River Birch, but I've persuaded her to give it some time to develop. Garden negotiations...

Let's see, River Birch or koreana...I know which I prefer to look at. Explain that the River Birch is leafless 7 months of the year and she now has cause for a walkabout.

Thanks for the pix.

tj

Exactly! I'm hoping that once she sees those beautiful upright cones she'll forget all about the birch.

That's interesting. I would not have thought it would do well in the south. When you say "south," are you referring to Georgia or the SE part of the country in general? Now you've got me wondering how far west it does well.

It seems that Korean Fir is very similar to our native Fraser Fir. They both originate in a similar mountainous region. Fraser is generally listed as a full zone more cold tolerant, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.

By South I really mean upper South, zone 8a and lower (and even then, probably only the most northern parts of 8a). And while some have reported success growing koreana on its own roots, all of mine have needed firma rootstock to survive. Finally, I should point out that growth is pretty slow. Lots of caveats!

I thought I'd throw a couple of photos in here, its my favorite conifer in my garden especially in spring with its bright new rubbery growth and purple cones. It is about seven years old and about 10/11 feet tall.

What part of Ireland do you reside? I apologize if you've already been asked this.

Beautiful specimen! Mine had a nice cone crop going last spring (2016), but we got hit with a hard freeze in mid-late May. That was the end of those amazing cones. They cone at a young age, which is just one more attribute.

I'm in county Sligo in the north west. I seem to get a good crop of cones every other year, last year there were only two and this year it seems like hundreds. I never considered that a late freeze could affect it, I must pay more attention as I'm usually fretting over my hostas at that time.

I've been wondering if it is self pollinating? I'd like to try growing some seed.