# Noble Fir (Abies procera)

> Noble fir, Abies procera: a large tree of 50 to 100 feet where planted, for zones 5 to 8, how fast it grows, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/noble-fir/

![A noble fir branch with upturned needles and young cones before the snowy slopes of Mount Rainier](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/noble-fir-1000.jpg?v=0c84e0d1 "Noble fir foliage and young cones near Mount Rainier, Washington, on July 3, 2009. It usually lives up to 400 years.")
*Photo: quinn.anya, [CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAbies_procera_foliage_Rainier.jpg))*

Large tree, 50 to 100 feet where planted, zones 5 to 8; full sun or part shade; average ground.

We do not grow noble fir, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Noble Fir |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Noble red fir |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 50 to 100 where planted; up to 325 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 30 |
| Zones | 5 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Average ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, hedge or screen |
| Pollen | June to July |
| Fruit | Cones, September to October |
| First crop | 20 to 30 years (good crops from 35 to 50) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen. A lone tree sets seed with its own pollen, but about a third less than with pollen from another tree. |
| Lifespan | Usually lives 400 years or less and can live up to 700, and the oldest one found was at least 352. Only a tiny share of trees has ever had its age measured. A forest survey recorded a breast-height age of 352 years for a tree 42 inches through in Multnomah County, Oregon, in 2015. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Rich moist slopes |
| Native in | 3 states |

Noble fir is native in 3 states: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) and [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from the Fire Effects Information System, the Jepson eFlora, NC State Extension and Silvics of North America.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=noble-fir&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=noble-fir): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=noble-fir:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=noble-fir): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Black Cherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-cherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus serotina*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares rich moist slopes in the wild.
- [More natives for this ground in the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=large-tree&sun=full&moisture=average)
- [Every companion of noble fir in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=noble-fir)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, NC State Extension, the Wildflower Center, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Oregon State University Extension, Calscape and the US Forest Service.