Did the tree have weeping branchlets? Weeping a lot? I am not sure I can remember all the spruces I have seen and the bark color, so maybe this is not a positive ID for NS, but reddish, and very finely flaking reddish bark is typical of some NS trees at the age yours was, and is usually--maybe almost always--paired with a weeping habit. As for the foliage, there is a range of color variation in NS that I would not call exactly blue, but which one time caused a forester up here to confuse the more whitish colored NS with white spruce. Ah, the trees we have seen and "lost," or at least can't get back to see very easily. I remember one very remarkable NS tree I saw a few years ago--before I became interested in special cultivars. You won't believe this NS tree. It was in the back yard of a rural home where there was a country auction. The tree was very, very broadly pyramidal, and here is the amazing partthe side branches were very, very large and extended very much parallel to the ground with no sweep. This tree was probably about 28 inches in diameter, and the lower limbs that stretched out so amazingly horizontal were really, really thick and longthey must have been 8 inches, maybe one to two 10 inches in diameter. And they stretched outward for what must have been 20 feet or more. Can you picture this? It is hard, I know. I never saw anything like it before or since--nothing like it in a NS or any other tree, for that matter. Now where is this tree? I wish I knew. It was somewhere on a small back road north of US Route 40 where it crosses the line from MD into PA. Now that seems precise enough, but I could drive all those rural roads for a week and maybe not get back to that spot. Well, there are other special NS trees I have seen and think should be graftedmaybe I will find some excuse later to describe a couple more. --Spruce P.S. I am at my timberland now and spent the day thinning in my NS groves. Im back!! I havent felt so strong in a long time. I thought of you and your new NS groves. One day they will tower like minemaybe even more so. My spirit played and danced in the tops of these towering trees today, gliding among the high curtains of wonderful green weeping foliage!!

Thanks for the replies and direction on the spruce. The two mulched trees right/left of the hardy pampas grass are Populus Tremula Erecta AKA Columnar Swedish Aspen. Planted last year, they both grew 8-9 feet this year. They are much more insect/disease resistant than quaking aspen and don't sucker as much. They also grow better at 6,000 feet where most quaking aspen struggle at the lower elevations. Thanks again for the help. :)

Embothrium Thanks for your response. I'm not looking to prune the top but am wondering about the branches coming up the sides from the base. Is this supposed to be a single trunk tree? Are those two branches growing along side of the trunk a leader situation? You mention "a lean near the base." Overall the tree visually seems to be straight upright but in the pictures I see what you mean; is that a sign of girdling already or is the main trunk slightly curved? When planting I don't recall specifically what the root ball was like. I did the four cuts down the sides of the root ball and a cross on the bottom and soaked the ball to tease out the roots. I'm struggling to recall but it seems I pruned off the worst of the deformed roots. 60 feet? I hope it took a long time to reach that height! My tree isn't under an overhang and I'm not emotionally attached to it. I don't mind replacing it if I'm still here when it gets too big. Kay

I'm not really concerned with the how tall it gets. Ultimately it won't grow as quickly in my zone anyways. The height isn't the only part that is going to get a lot bigger - you've got it way to close to the fence, are placing it like it was going to become a small shrub. And Norway spruce is a cold climate adapted species, that doesn't necessarily grow markedly slower in a climate a few zones colder than the one here. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=E35DFBC59E5BBEE14882B73AFF933E8597FE36F8&thid=OIP.c4j37QvbX9_conp6qvH-zwHaIf&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetreefarm.com%2Fmedia%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct%2Fcache%2F1%2Fthumbnail%2F9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95%2Fp%2Fi%2Fpicea-abies-cupressina-columnar-norway-spruce_1.jpg&exph=480&expw=419&q=cupressina+spruce&selectedindex=28&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=2