A most popular specimen tree, Colorado Spruce is used throughout the northern states. Stiffly conical-pyramidal in habit, with densely set, horizontal branches that skirt the ground. The four-sided needles, 3/4" to 1 1/4" long, range in color from green to gray-green, blue-green, or silver-blue. The best blue-colored seedlings (picea pungens var. glauca) have resulted in the common name 'Blue Spruce'. Withstands virtually any soil, except moist. Often used as a specimen plant, although it can detract from the total landscape, when using the very bluest trees.
Habit:Stiffly conical-pyramidal, sticky needles, with dense to very dense habit.
Growth Rate: Slow 10" to 12" per year in average landscape.
Mature Sizes: In an average mid west landscape after 20 years 20' to 25', and 10' to 12' wide.
Needle: Green to silver-blue, very stiff, 3/4" to 1" long, very sharp point on the end, 4 sided.
Texture: Stiff, semi-formal.
Cones: 2 1/2" to 4" long, cylindrical, tan in color.
Culture: Transplants well, shallow spreading root system on heavy soils, plant in very well drained soil. Perfers full sun, but will grow in light to moderate shade (not less than 4 hours direct sunlight) expect trees to be lighter branched less dense, and sometimes slower growing. Colorado Spruce will perform better than any of the pine family in partial shade. Perhaps the most drought tolerant of all spruces.
Disease and Insects:Cyctospora (cankers), Mites.
Cultivars and Varieties:
- Fat Albert; is a cutting-produced clone with a wide, pyramidal habit and excellent, rich blue needle color.
- Hoopsii; is a standard. It has a dense, pyramidal form and extremely glaucous blue needles.
- Moerheimii; is another old cultivar. It too, has rich blue foliage, but it tends to be more open in habit than some of the others.
- Montgomery; is a dwarf, wide spreading pyramidal, 6" per year.
- Globosa; very slow growing, 3" per year, wider than tall, rounded and compact with bluish needles.
Zone:2 to 7.
Native Habitat: Western United States, introduced about 1862.
