Picea pungens glauca (Blue or Colorado spruce)

The name 'Picea' comes from the latin for 'pitch pine'. Pitch is a sugar rich gum extracted from spruce trees and used for brewing beer and as chewing gum by Native Americans.  It was also a valuable commodity in ancient Europe. This particular species of 'picea' originates from the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Colorado in the USA.

Grows well in any moist, free draining, neutral to slightly acidic, fertile soil in full sun. It will survive in dry conditions and will tolerate poorer soils.

An upright pyramid shaped evergreen tree, that can mature in the wilds up to 15 m high.  The bark develops thick grey scales with age and new stems or twigs start green, transforming to a light brown with an orange cast. The needles are 3cm long, very stiff and are covered in a silvery glaucous wax that gives the tree its distinctive blue colour. The needles are uniformly distributed and curve slightly upwards; the overall effect makes these branches very prickly to handle. Green cylindrical cones (7-7.5cm long) are produced and turn to a pale brown as they ripen.


Picea pungens glauca as a Christmas tree

Trees have a good shape but can feel a little sparse when trying to hide electric lights and fill it with decorations. The needles are sharp which can make decorating them quite hazardous and difficult to pick up from the carpet after they have fallen off the tree.

The tree does have a strong smell of pine and the boughs drop little over time however, the trees loose a large number of their needles over the time the tree is inside.