My Favorite Plant and Why

’Karl Fuchs’ Deodar Cedar was selected at a German nursery in the 1970’s from cold hardy seeds collected from high mountains south of Kabul in Afghanistan. It was selected for cold hardiness, but its extremely blue leaves, and its tendency to grow narrower than the species, also draws the attention of designers. Spring’s new growth appears a striking bright blue, then gradually matures to green, presenting a shimmering effect through much of the season.

It has not been established widely as to mature sizes and from what I can find the opinion varies from 20' in 10 years to 40'+ and beyond over its lifetime. There seems consensus that it won't get wider than 15' which makes it a great candidate for the narrower spaces we see in the landscapes today.

Colorado is a very tough environment for conifers, particularly on the high plains. Year after year we see winter dessication and burn on all types of conifers because of our high light intensity, highly variable temperatures and often very dry winters. Often plants are selected for here due in large part to their cold hardiness ratings. This is a misleading statistic, especially for the high plains. This plant has been rated as a zone 5 or 6 plant. I planted one in my yard in Reunion two years ago. We have well draining sandy loam soils there. The tree was about 6-7' tall from a #15 container. It is planted in the far southwest corner of my yard, in full sun with a little bit of winter wind protection but not much. Last winter we got to -15 F and had trace precipitation from November to February. I was nervous because the plant seemed to fade out to green and I was waiting to see signs of burn come March. To my pleasant surprise, not one needle dropped or burned. The tree now stands over 10' tall and has put on 8-12" of new growth again this year. After two years of traditional week long cold snaps and the driest winter on record (with no additional winter watering) I feel confident that this plant has great potential for widespread use along the Front Range. I would make sure to plant it in well draining soils. We are getting a larger specimen to plant in front of the new office which I am confident will be a conversation starter. By the way, Fuchs is pronounced Fooks in case you were wondering!