Picea abies or Picea pungens are preferred rootstock for grafting. Vegetative propagation is more often used to perpetuate the rarer, more desirable forms of the species. Most propagation is by seed but blue spruce can be grafted or grown from rooted cuttings. It occurs at elevations of 6,000 to 11,000 feet generally at higher elevations in the more southern areas. The southern limits are New Mexico and Arizona. Its popularity as an ornamental leads many consumers to use blue spruce as a living Christmas tree, to be planted after the holiday season.īlue spruce occurs naturally from western Wyoming and eastern Idaho southward through central Colorado and Central Utah. Additionally, needle retention is among the best for the spruces. The species has an excellent natural shape and requires little shearing. It also has good needle retention.īlue spruce is finding increasing popularity as a Christmas tree as a result of its symmetrical form and attractive blue foliage. This Christmas tree has good symmetrical form and has attractive blue foliage. This species is bluish-gray in color and has a bad odor when needles are crushed. Often used for stuffing pine-pillows, these sharp needles are 1 – 1 ½ in. It is somewhat pale gray in small flattened scales when young, then turns reddish brown and furrowed with age. The bark is thin becoming moderately thick with age. Cones generally persist on the tree for one to two years after seed fall. In the fall, cones are 2-4 inches long and turn chestnut brown with stiff, flattened scales. Pollination occurs in late spring and cones mature in one season. Both male and female flowers (strobili) occur in the same tree, although in different locations. The sterigmata persist on the twigs after needles have fallen, which is usually after the third or fourth year. Needles occur on small peg-like structures on the twig called sterigmata. Nursery managers also select for “shiners” which demonstrate this very desirable characteristic. The cultivated variety ‘glauca’ is noted for this type of coloration. Some trees have a more distinct bluish-white or silvery-white foliage. Needles are generally dull bluish-gray to silvery blue and emit a resinous odor when crushed. It is this point which gives the species its name “pungens”, from the Latin word for sharp as in puncture wound. They are 4-sided and have a very sharp point on the end. Leaves (needles) are 1-1 1/2 inches long on lower branches but somewhat shorter on upper branches. While blue spruce grows relatively slowly, it is long-lived and may reach ages of 600-800 years. As trees become older, they often take on a more irregular appearance. It has a narrow, pyramidal shape and cone-shaped crown. The species generally reaches a height of 65-115 feet at maturity with a diameter of 2-3 feet. It is the official state tree of both Colorado and Utah. Colorado blue spruce, or blue spruce, is an attractive tree often used for Christmas trees or as ornamentals, particularly in the eastern United States and Europe.
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