About 3 years ago I was talking to someone who tried Douglas Fir. I was surprised but the guy thought it was doable. You are going to need a mycorrhizal innoculant. I would treat like Aspen, grown in a place that doesn't dry out too much. Let us know if it succeeds!

If I can get a seed source from an area were Ponderosa pine grows, dry land, I think that they may survive. But some feed back would be nice. Zosel's sells them, but I have not contacted them yet to find out how they have been doing. I have been using and reading up on mycorrhizai for other trees that I have planted. I was surprised one wet year when a Sullius came up by my Siberian larch, I had never seen one before.

If you grow larch with fungus nearby you should have no problem with the Fir. I will see if I can find the guy. Personal observation is that every larch in Regina is either dead or dying. Two dry years did not help. Neither did the exploding rabbit pop. The only Ponderosa I've seen is on the north side of the University campus. In the open I still think Ponderosa is marginal. That said I have seen websites moving Ponderosa from zone 4 to zone 3. Maybe they have found tougher seedlings. I'll keep an eye out for Ponderosa sightings but they aren't common.

yes there is a big difference where the trees come from, I have a 5' ponderosa that is doing great with the conditions so far but it will be hardier than any doug fir. There are some 50' trees around here but they are not common by any means.

I don't see why Douglas Fir, I'm talking about the Rocky Mountain subspecies, wouldn't work. They grow on some very poor sites, including some dry sites, here in Wyoming and seem to be very adaptable. We've got some growing in town and we have alkaline clay soil w/ limestone cobble. I'll get a couple pictures. They would prefer Canadian soil to what is in my town for sure.

That's the challenge, to find plants grown from seed from in the harshest environment. I don't want to have to start them from seed myself.

Why do they show links to other discussions in this thread? Under the title 'related discussions' and none of them have anything in common with this thread? Of am I the only one seeing this?

They come up on my phone but not the P.C.

It would be fun to grow them. Know anyone up in them thar hills that might let you dig a sapling or two?

We have a local 'facebook' where people make requests for various things like that. Even if you had to pay a reasonable fee.

I will check with a nursery that is a couple of hours away to see if they know the seed source of the trees that they sell, other than them all others will be much farther away.

Well, you could call around and see what they have and if they know the seed source. If you could find exactly what you want, it might be worth the trip. 8^)

Another idea is to check with your forestry dept. They may have what you're looking for.

While our forestry dept. is great for getting maps of areas to be logged which includes vast amounts of information they would not be planting any species that is not present in the boreal forest at present. With global warming though they should be.

Be careful what you plant.

After several years of mild winters, we just had some of the worst winter weather you can get this year, with lows near zone 2 averages.

My Tsuga canadensis looks to be a goner.

Guess Mother nature can jolt you back to reality whenever she wants.

I should also mention that I try to buy seedlings not named plants, except fruit trees. And usually try to get a few, I am down to 2 Shagbark's out of 6 so far. Seedling vary alot, plus location and my soil is variable being valley bottom. The Shagbark's leaf out late, this is very important here. The Black Walnut and Butternut are earlier and can get frost burn, so does the native Green Ash but they recover much better.

I can almost see zone 4a from here, I'm that close to the line. Again, you never know.

Right now my seedling Gleditsia triacanthos is completely covered up (protected) with several feet of snow. The first year or two is supposed to be the worst for winter kill on these. There are many mature ones growing around town so I know it's possible once they get established.

Be the second winter for my Sugar maple and Japanese tree lilac. Don't expect any trouble there bc we had near -40 last winter and all came through.

My Red Oaks laugh at this weather, same for the Bur Oak and Red maple.

I did see some kind of borer on the new Green Ash, just one spot, so have a plan for replacement if they appear again this year. It might have been something other than EAB so we'll see.

The Tsuga c. may come again from dormant buds idk. If I would've left the burlap surround off, it would have been near completely covered with snow but somehow that surround causes the wind to sweep around it, almost to the bare ground. If it survives this summer, it's on it's own next year.

Oh, and my Black Ash has been in 5 years now and is doing beautifully. Of coarse all the evergreens like Spruce and Pine have no problem here. I'm working on getting some Northern white cedar (Arborvitae z2) going arounf here also. :^)

Good to here about the Red Oak and Red Maple, it might reduce my questionable purchases down a couple of numbers, LOL. I do have a Red Oak already that is growing slowly after having die back the first winter. Hope your Tsuga makes it. I had an Albert Spruce for a few years and it would get it's needles scorched each winter but would grow new ones and was putting on height but I pulled it regardless.

A year ago, my next door neighbor received a gift of AS. Looked like a piece of toast last spring.

Not too worried about the Tsuga. Never knew what one was until I started looking up 'native trees' for Minnesota (liars, lol). Fun to try. Probably needed a more protected area if anything. I didn't want to plant it in a corner by a building because of it's mature size someday. I did everything else I could, watered and protected for 3 seasons. A little disappointing but not the end of the world by any means.

Everything else I've planted in the yard since I moved here 6 years ago is doing well, so really, I have a high percentage of success lol. Running out of room is my biggest problem. :^)

Well after this weekend's flurry, I am curious how many of the buds on my plums and sour cherries are damaged. They were partially opening so it is 50/50.