Nikko Firs: Bringing Mt. Fuji to the Bronx

Posted in Gardens and Collections on December 2 2011, by Joyce Newman

Joyce H. Newman is the editor of Consumer Reports’ GreenerChoices.org, and has been a Garden Tour Guide with The New York Botanical Garden for the past six years.

Across from the Garden’s main Café is a grove of Nikko firs (Abies homolepsis) that was planted in 1928, and has since become part of the Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum at the NYBG. Much like a few of the unique conifers we have previously discussed, these trees are native to Japan, and commonly grow in mountainous areas where they need cool, moist, and often snowy environments to thrive. But despite the tree’s native habitat, the word nikko in Japanese actually means “sunlight” or “sunshine.”

You could travel to Mt. Fuji in Japan to see these fir trees growing in abundance. However, the grove right here in the Bronx is an amazing example in itself, due to the fact that firs are difficult to grow in urban environments. In fact, it would be even harder to establish a healthy grove of these trees today given ongoing climate change.

As foliage goes, the needles on Nikko fir trees are short, flat, and dark green in color, with delicate white lines on the underside of each one. The trees are also impressively tall, rising to over 50 feet when fully grown, creating a wide and stately evergreen forest all on their own.

In Japan, the city of Nikko (after which the trees are named) is a long day trip from Tokyo, lying high in the mountains and spotted with many onsen, or hot springs. The Nikko Botanical Garden, which is part of the University of Tokyo’s research gardens, opened there in 1902 with a focus on alpine plants. After nearly a hundred years, it now exhibits over 1500 different plant species and about 2200 individual plants. Combine this variety with stunning mountains, tumbling waterfalls, and a collection of famous shrines, and Nikko’s natural beauty only adds to that of these wonderful firs.

We here at The New York Botanical Garden consider ourselves lucky to have our very own collection of these soaring Nikko firs, now over 80 years old and doing well. Check in with Plant Talk in coming weeks as we continue our exploration of the rare and unique conifers growing here in the Bronx.

Editor’s note: If you would like to learn more about the Garden’s beautiful conifer collection, join Joyce on her upcoming Saturday tours on December 3 and 10 at 12:30 p.m.