Abies koreana 'Blauer Eskimo' / Blauer Eskimo Korean fir

Abies koreana 'Blauer Eskimo' is a choice dwarf selection of Korean fir. Form of this plant is a globose bun of Blue needles with short, stubby branches and prominent resinous buds which are exceptionally pleasing in winter. Expected annual growth is about 1 inch (2.5 cm), growing slightly faster outward than upward. After ten years in the garden, 'Blauer Eskimo' will become a nice Blue mound, 24 inches (60cm) across and 1 foot (.3 m) tall, a perfect choice for the rock garden and an excellent specimen plant if one can be located grafted onto a standard.

Wittbold-Müller Nursery of Verden-Eitze, Germany had long been doing research in developing a fast-growing, well-branched, Blue form of Korean fir for use in the Christmas tree industry. A couple of their famous selections are Abies koreana 'Blaue Zwo' and 'Blauer Pfiff.' Both were created with a combination of techniques such as irradiating seed and cross-pollinating with Abies lasiocarpa. The original 'Blauer Eskimo' was discovered in the fields of Wittbold-Müller in the form of a witch's broom mutation on a low-hanging branch of a specimen of 'Blauer Pfiff' in the mid 1984.