Abies grandis ‘Serendipity’ was one of the first Grand fir brooms that Mike & Cheryl discovered. We had traveled the side road many times previously but it only became visible in early December 2014 because of a recent snowfall which highlighted the broom’s outline. Mike climbed the tree and took a few scions, and nearly all of them had nice new growth the following spring…Serendipitously, we returned the following year, on Valentine’s Day 2016 to harvest more scions, only to find that the branch that supported the broom had partially snapped from the snow load that winter! The broom was still there! So we retrieved what we could from this large broom (about 6 by 6 ft and 2 ft ht), hoping that it was still viable, and the grafts produced this beautiful and vigorous new grand fir cultivar! The parent tree of this cultivar ‘Serendipity’ is on the east side of the Cascade Mountain range over 2000 feet elevation, and it appears to be more cold hardy and versatile. These grafted fir trees are thriving in our conifer garden in Upper Michigan along the shore of Lake Superior. ‘Serendipity’ appears adaptable to various climates, also thriving in the high mountain desert of Washington, with low humidity and occasional summer temperatures approaching 110 degrees. The Abies grandis ‘Serendipity’ new cultivar is on display at the Oregon Garden arboretum!
