Must have (All Blue) Picea pungens

15 years ago

Not a good day for photos (like 18F.)but I got a new camera and it was killing me not to use it. Not sure about all the setting but it is taking photos. I will critique it later.

Dave

Picea pungens 'Lundeby's Dwarf'.A rare form of Colorado Blue Spruce, it stays compact and provides an attractive mounding form that stays in scale, even in small urban and suburban gardens. Discovered by Lundeby Nursery in North Dakota.

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Picea pungens 'Blue Totem'. Limbs more up right with a narrower growth habit then Iseli 'Fastigiate'.

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Picea pungens 'Gentry's Gem'. A compact medium blue selection of Colorado spruce. Spreading or globose when young, broadly pyramidal with age.

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Picea pungens 'Globosa'.A dwarf compact blue spruce, indistinguishable from 'Montgomery.' To maintain the desired globose or spreading habit, prune out any upright or vigorous shoots.

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Picea pungens 'Prostrata Wells'. It Appears to be lighter in color than 'Glauca Procumbens' but with similar respect to form.

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Picea pungens 'The Blues'. A little guy but comming along. 4 year graft.

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Picea pungens 'Sester Dwarf'.Stunning blue needles, slow growth rate, and classic conical form make this dwarf spruce an ideal plant for the modern landscape. Only about one-fourth the growth of its larger parent, it is the perfect small form of Colorado Blue Spruce, and it requires little maintenance or pruning to keep its tidy shape.

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Picea pungens 'St.Mary's Broom'. A dwarf blue selection with relatively long, wide-angled needles for such a slow-growing plant. Slower growing than 'Montgomery.

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Picea pungens 'Donna's Rainbow'. Dwarf, dense,conical form has terminal shoots that stand straight up. It will be less then 3ft. high in 10 years and is spindly when young.

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Picea pungens 'Glauca Pendula'. Weeping or creeping, depending on training, irregular form, even when staked; branches become more pendulous as it matures; full sun; stake to desired height.

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Picea pungens 'Montgomery'. Another of the globe-shaped, compact blue spruces, similar to 'Globosa', growing into a broad, pyramid shape when mature.

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Picea pungens 'Glauca Procumbens'. Dwarf, somewhat flat, very irregular, slow spreading, some branches drooping some ascending, blue needles.

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Picea pungens 'Gerald's Dwarf Blue'.

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Picea pungens 'Hoopsii'. Long, thick, bright silver-blue needles give 'Hoopsi' its bluest of blue color. A superb, stately mature plant, uniformly staked to insure an attractive upright habit

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Picea pungens 'Mrs. Cesarini'. An attack of Bag Worms did some damage but new buds are set and it will be back. The only green pungens I have.

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Comments (18)

kaitain4
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'm drooling...let me get a towel...
firefightergardener
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Choice Dave, choice. Your garden is an inspiration to many of us and a great advertisement for the hobby in general. I have about half of these - maybe I can list a few of my own in 2-3 years - and I am excited to see how they will probably look in a half dozen years.
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link below to girards nursery aka Picea Pungens 'Iseli Fastigiata' please do understand.. that height and width are at 10 years ... they continue afterwords at the annual growth rate... basically for the rest of your life ... i got mine here... it has a nice spring color ... personally .. i would buy something that makes my toes curl ... and cut it down in 15 years.. if its outgrows the space.. rather than buy something so-so .. just to fill a space ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link
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This is a question I have asked over the years and the answer I got more or less each time was yes. Depending on how large a specimen you wanted, and depending on how large a pot you had, you could have pretty much anything you wanted in a pot. Three keys: **Proper soil in the pot. It must drain FAST. It would also benefit it to have occasional nutrients added. There are a number of ways to do this. **Super cold protection. Since the roots are more exposed to the air temperature in a pot(even a big one), they need to be protected from extreme hot and cold weather. This may be an issue for you in 5b. It's not for me in 7b. Frequent watering. Since a pot-bound plant cannot 'search' for water over a large area(in the ground), it will need more frequent watering then the same plant in the ground. During hot stretches, I have been watering my potted conifers about 2-3 times a week. So far, all of my plants are relatively small and in huge pots compared to their current size. I have a couple '100 gallon' pots with very large upright conifers in them that I am hopeful will be OK for about 10-15 years. After that I'm sure I'll have to plant them in the ground(that's going to be fun to move then - yikes!). A dwarf conifer would be easy to pot. Also keep in mind the price for conifers is cheap compared to how long you'll enjoy them. Why spend $20 on a movie you might not like and maybe won't remember in five years if you won't spend $20 on a neat conifer that will only add character and be fun to watch grow over your lifetime. Picea pungens 'St. Mary' would be a good one in a 10-20 gallon pot. Hope that helps! Will
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my fastigate grew nicely until about 6=8 feet.. when a heavy snow ice storm splayed it open ... and there is no way to fix that with a pungens ... they arent one fo the bendy pine type plants ... i bet most of us would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two.. but for the marketing genius of the huge wholesale grower ... but if they see a difference .. and can sell you on it ....all the power to them ... i often wondered about names like this.. actually i dont think its proper anymore to include latin in the cultivar name ... nor mix latin with non latin words ... where is that video on the nomenclature police.. lol ... ken
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Fledgeling_
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Very nice... although I have to admit I like green P. pungens selections as much as the blue types.
kaitain4
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I have to say I really love the pairing of the Picea pungens 'Glauca Pendula' with the Picea abies 'Pendula'. That was a stroke of genius!

OK, now to the personal suff - which cultivars have the best color, in your experience? If you had to rate them, which globe-shape, dwarf, weeper, and standard form are the knock-outs in your garden? Enquiring minds want to know! :)

K4

P.S. I ordered a Picea pungens 'Donna's Rainbow' and a Picea pungens 'Ed Woods Blue'. You have the former, but do you have the latter?
bunkers
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I really enjoy seeing pictures of your yard and amazing conifers!

I agree that your streetside combination is truly stunning. What is the yellow item you have placed in front of that combination?

I aspire for a yard 1/20th as nice as yours.

Scott
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
great job dave

boy when i first saw gentrys gem.. the first thing that came to mind was globosa.. which you put as the following pic... but for the label attached to the plant... can you tell them apart????

thx

ken
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
oh .. forgot to mentions ... in regards to your original title .... Must have (All Blue) Picea pungens

being a blue freak in the garden.. i too thought i must have ALL picea pungens.. after a dozen and half or two .. they all started to look alike ...

i realize that mine are basically very young.. and that somewhere in time they may have unique traits ... but i had to start asking myself.. do you really need ANOTHER blue pungens ...

i guess i would have to ask fireboy that ... how many blue blue spruce does one guy need.. if you can step away from being a NAME collector ... like that is going to happen.. lol ...

for you more recent .. and newer collectors.. be weary of titles like.. an IMPROVED hoopsi .. bluer than hoopsi .. etc .. frankly .. 99% of us will NEVER be able to see any difference.. and you dont need the improved one if you have the old one.. or vice versa ... learned this lesson in the hosta world ... 1500 hosta later... i would say there are about 10 to 15 unique traits.. and thereafter.. they all start looking like another one ....

ken
arceesmith
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Nice collection of blues! A couple of my favs here are, 'Gentry's Gem' and 'The Blues' - but all these are great.
dcsteg
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
K4...In the link below I posted a few Picea p. cultivars for color comparison in another thread last Summer. You will have to decide for yourself on color preference. There is a flaw in the post with a double photo of R.H. Montgomery'

Without a doubt the Picea p. 'Glauca Pendula' is a thing of beauty and my choice as #1. As far as the others placement is important and the color is better exemplified with the addition of companion plants to bring out the best in each one.

No I don't have 'Ed Woods Blue'.

Ken...You can tell the difference. The photos really don't show that difference. The 'Gentry's Gem' has a layered growth habit as opposed to the 'Globosa' with its tight growth habit. Also needles in the Gem are a little more steel gray in Summer.

Ken, also your quote: how many blue blue spruce
does one guy need." As for me as many as you can display without over kill. I accomplish this with selective placement with many colors separating the next one.

Bunkers... The 2 yellows are Cham. pisifera 'Golden Mop'.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea p. Recomendations.
firefightergardener
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The Picea pungens I have in my database that are not shown in the above photos are:

Baby Blue Eyes
Blaue Kissen
Blue Pearl
Copeland
Hillside Dwarf
Iseli Foxtail
Karina
Lutea
Montana Ave.(though I know Dave has one or two of these gems)
Scottie
Sunshine
Stanleys' Gold
Thume
Walnut Glen
Wendy
Woodstock
Victor

Now a lot of these aren't 'silver blue' specimens but all have their interesting points and I'm glad I bought them all. I do wish I had 'Blue Totem' that is a great looking conifer, but for the most part I am going to really slow my purchases of new conifers with one exception - Cedrus. That's going to be my 'specialty' and I'm going to collect as many as I can plant on my property. That said, Picea pungens is high on my list of desirable conifers because to me, very few plants in the world match it for color and year round beauty. The fact that it grows fine in part shade is an added bonus.
ic_conifers
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I ordered 'St. Mary's Witchbroom' last week - I need more blue in my garden!

Elizabeth
dcsteg
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
In the above photo of Picea pungens 'Prostrata Wells'. apparentally is mis marked.

The correct cultivar name is 'Blue Horizon'. After searching my files for 2005 I came across the Wells Nursery I.D. tag.

A little know cultivar. I suppose that's why no one caught it.

Dave
sprucebud
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I know they are not the "blue" ones but has anyone got pictures of the following: Lutea and Walnut Glen
gardener365
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi Dave,

Picea pungens 'Lundeby's Dwarf' has great branching and color. I like that one. Same goes for 'The Blues' as I have yet to acquire that plant.

Picea pungens 'Gerald's Dwarf Blue' is a fatty daddy the way the needles are arranged. Of course 'Hoopsi' makes, the list!

I think a few others I've seen that could be added are :
'Shiloh Weeping'
not a pungens but a Norway spruce, 'Weeping Blue' - that one is tight!

And I'm sure many more fit the grid.

Cool,

Dax
toucanjoe
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
For color i like P.Pungens 'Blue Moon'.It seems to have a daker blue not silvery. Got one last year from Dennis.
dcsteg
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
A few pick me ups that I missed on the first go-a-round. I always equate pungens with blue which is not the case.

Dave

Picea pungens 'Montana Ave.' Spring photo.
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close up

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Picea pungens 'Stanley's Gold'. I am training this one to be a prostrate spreader. 3 year old graft.
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Picea pungens ' Lost Love'. Picked this off a sale table. No information on it other then name.

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coniferjoy
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi Firefightergarden,

Nice Picea pungens database list you have.
You mentioned 'Blaue Kissen', the correct name is 'Blaukissen'.
This one is found by Gther Eschrich from Germany in 1978.
'Thume' must be written as 'Thuem'
You can also add the following cultivars to your list:
'Barabits Blue'
'Bialobok'
'Blue Mountain'
'Blue Trinket'
'Early Cone'
'Filip's Blue Compact'
'Frieda'
'Hulsdonk Mini'
'Hermann Naue'
gardener365
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
'Freida' is a must. 'Hemann Naue' really got my attention on firefighters post on about page 3 now of photos, he took at Coenosium Gardens.

I'll look up the others you mention.

Thanks a lot,

Dax

This is this Picea abies 'Weeping Blue' as being upright without further staking

Rich's Foxwillow Pines

Picea abies showing an older specimen that was never staked. I'll assume from past experience that eventually a leader would develop and eventually this plant 'will continue to go', upright, on its' own. Copyrighted photo from 'Green Indrustry Images of Picea abies 'Weeping Blue':
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Must have (All Blue) Picea pungens

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Must have (All Blue) Picea pungens

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