COMMON NAME:  Blue Spruce,  Colorado Spruce, Colorado Blue Spruce.

DESCRIPTION:  Blue Spruce grows to 50'-60' in the home landscape, while larger trees in the wild are more common.  The color of this spruce ranges from green to blue and its shape is pyramidal.

NATIVE RANGE:  Bottomlands of streams and rivers.  Native to much of the state.

CULTURE:  Blue Spruce is best planted either containerized or balled and brulapped.  It has a fibrous root system and is easy to transplant.  Once established in the landscape Colorado Spruce requires infrequent, deep watering.

DISEASE AND INSECTS:  Blue Spruce is fairly resistant, but can sometimes be infected by canker and spruce gall aphids.

LANDSCAPE VALUE:  Picea pungens is one of the most versatile native trees.  The common tree form is beautiful but can get too large for the average home landscape.  Either blue or green trees are available from a one gallon can all the way up to a 20 foot B&B tree.  There are many dwarf cultivars of Blue Spruce to choose from.  Some of the best are 'Baby Blue Eyes' and 'Bakerii.'  There is a shrub form labeled 'globosa', and it is available in a low-graft (shrub form) or with a high-graft (lollipop form).