About Abies lasiocarpa ‘Stampede Pass’: Mike & Cheryl found this cute subalpine fir broom, while picking huckleberries in the Stampede Pass area of the Cascade Mountain range of Washington in August 2018. The Abies lasiocarpa tree was struggling and the only healthy looking part was the fir broom. It was oblong with a dense growth pattern, measuring 16x13x10 inches in dimension. The annual growth on this cultivar is less than 1/2 inch and the needles are tiny and bluish green. We took a few scions as an experiment in the fall of 2018 and they pushed beautifully, and some even had a second push! Since the tree is struggling, we took the broom in November 2019 (not accessible after snowfall), and named it Abies lasiocarpa ‘Stampede Pass’!
Remarkably, the new buds are shades of purple, similar to the huckleberries, in the patch where it was discovered! Maybe the name ‘Huckleberry’ would have been more fitting!
