Is the blue spruce used for landscaping?
By James Bradley
Is the blue spruce used for landscaping?
A variety of blue spruce (Picea pungens) cultivars provide an array of landscaping options, which showcase their needled foliage growing in soft shades of blue. Grow blue spruces in full sunlight for best development and moist, well-drained soil high in organic content.
Are there miniature blue spruce trees?
While not a true dwarf ornamental, the Baby Blue Eyes Spruce tree is the closest thing to a dwarf evergreen tree on the market today. A typical Colorado Blue Spruce will grow 50-75 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Incorporating a Baby Blue Eyes Spruce into your landscape offers a variety of benefits.
How close can you plant blue spruce trees?
20 to 30 feet
Plant trees in full sun from spring to summer in well-drained, slightly acidic, humus-rich, moist ground. Space specimen trees 20 to 30 feet apart. Plant weeping, creeping and dwarf forms closer together.
What looks good with blue spruce?
Deep purples, reds, blacks and bronzes make good choices to plant en masse to showcase the spruce tree’s blue foliage. Choose silver, gold, chartreuse, yellow, pink or other bright colors as an unexpected shot of color. Use bright colors sparingly to avoid distracting from the blue spruce.
What kills a blue spruce tree?
Blue spruce trees are susceptible to an infectious needle disease caused by the fungus Rhizosphaera. The disease, referred to as Rhizosphaera needle cast, is the most common problem seen on blue spruce samples that are submitted to the Plant Disease Clinic. In general, trees appear to die from the bottom upward.
How do you keep a blue spruce tree small?
If you just want to shape your dwarf spruce, or if your tree is young and you want to trim it to keep it small, then you can prune with a good amount of success. Taking care not to cut into the dead zone, cut back any branches that extend beyond the tree’s conical shape. Remove ½ to 1 inch (up to 2.5 cm.)
What can I plant around a spruce tree?
Notable acid-loving shrubs and perennials include: rhododendrons, blueberries, bergenias, hostas, lungwort, lily-of-the-valley, and any juniper or other conifer, Hydrangea will thrive just outside the drip line, and the acidity will actually turn their flowers bluer.
What do blue spruce look like?
Blue spruce, also known as Colorado spruce, is a conical-shaped evergreen tree with stiff horizontal branches and short stiff needles. It is a commonly used tree in Midwest landscapes. In nature the needles are often green, but many specimens produce blue-green needles.
What are the names of the blue spruce trees?
The cones are very small (up to 3.5 cm – 1.4 inch), dark purple to maturity. Dense dwarf varieties with perfectly short branches have an exaggerated blue hue due to the stomatal stripes clearly visible on the protruding short needles: “Beisner”, “Ericoides”, finally, “Nana” – an old variety that includes more than one clone.
Where to plant a blue spruce tree in the yard?
In this case, plant the tree in the area of the landscape where it will best display decorations during the holiday season. Placing the tree near a window or in the backyard provides a more personal display while growing the blue spruce in the front yard adds a festive touch that passersby can enjoy.
Do you need to prune a blue spruce tree?
Do not prune these trees. They do best when their branches are allowed to grow all the way to the ground. Use a magnifying glass to examine the needles of your blue spruce for signs of Rhizosphaera needle cast (Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii), a fungus that causes needle cast disease.
How tall does a dwarf blue spruce get?
Picea pungens ‘Montgomery’ Common Name:Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce Desc/habit: Dense growing conifer with striking blue color. Slow-growing with globose habit. Sunlight: Sun. Size at maturity: 3-4′ tall / 4-5′ wide Dense, slow-growing conifer with blue color. A hodge podge of pics from around the yard this last week before Christmas…
Where can I find a blue spruce tree?
Squares, boulevards of many cities (especially ceremonial ones, near state institutions) are decorated with slender rows of blue pyramids. The dominance of these pure-blooded Americans in strategic locations is not ideological sabotage. Their mission is extremely humane.
What makes a blue spruce tree look unbalanced?
Spruce are water pigs. Rainfall tends to drip off the tips and avoid the space under the tree. You can let some light in by taking off lower branches. This makes the tree look unbalanced if you do more than the bottom fifth of the tree.
Picea pungens ‘Montgomery’ Common Name:Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce Desc/habit: Dense growing conifer with striking blue color. Slow-growing with globose habit. Sunlight: Sun. Size at maturity: 3-4′ tall / 4-5′ wide Dense, slow-growing conifer with blue color. A hodge podge of pics from around the yard this last week before Christmas…
What kind of blue spruce has ruffled needles?
Grow quite dwarf varieties – Witch Brooms with ruffled needles: ‘Nana’, ‘Papoose’, ‘Renken’, ‘Stripemonde’. Picea omorica, which is native to the mountains of Yugoslavia, is dressed in flat needles of the same color – ‘Day and night’, but it is not as spiny and shorter.
