Douglas fir likes mid-high elevation montane areas with dry summers and wet winters. There may have been more at one time, but its numbers were probably greatly reduced in the Comstock lode days. They are used as Christmas trees and often as ornamentals in gardens. Their leaves can persist for 8 to 10 years.
Young trees form pyramidal silhouettes with long droopy branches.
They have flat, soft, and abundant needle-like leaves that give the trees a full and hazy appearance. The cones are from 2-4 in long, numerous, pendulous and with conspicuous 3 point bracts that protrude from underneath the cone scales. Douglas firs are related to spruces and hemlocks by having their cones erect at the time of pollination. They ripen in the first year and don t break up upon maturing. These trees are very tolerating but spring frosts will cause them harm.