There are not many of these, the only one's I'm familiar with are:
Picea abies:
'Cruenta'
'Rubraspicata'
'Rydal'
'Spring Fire'

Picea asperata:
'Spring Red'

Picea omorika:
'Roter Austrieb'

The red colour depends on the temperatures at the time that the red Spring growth will show up.
When it's very warm they all show their red colour only for a few days.
When it's cold in that period, the red colour could stay for 2 weeks.

IMHO ...

none are BRILLIANT RED ....

and none hold more than a few hours ... very quickly becoming either a dried blood [perhaps the derivation of the name] ... or chocolate color ...

in my z5.. a day or two has been the longest color show ... i have no clue how joy can come up with weeks of red color ... maybe a week of dusty chocolate brown ...

and i doubt in your z7 it will last long at all ...

IMHO.. skip them ...

ken

Ken, what a worthless comment you gave to Plantmarker!!!

It seems that you're the expert here and that you are familiar with all these red needled Picea cultivars.
Even I'm not familiar with the red needle colour of Picea asperata 'Spring red' and you're telling us that these ALL don't hold their colour for only a few hours.

Your climat is differend then the one whe have here in Holland.
In cold Spring days I can enjoy the red colour from bud bursting till the new Spring growth will revert to green for 2 weeks, but this is the maximum time for enjoying this red colour.

Another thing is that reed needled conifers are very special and most of all is that these are very rare.
How can you tell him to skip them....?

Edwin

Can you post some photos of these gems for us all to
enjoy.

In my ignorance, I had no idea that some cultivars of spruce trees could flush red in the spring for a couple of days, let alone a couple of weeks! I'm with blue_yew - if anyone has pictures of what must indeed be a beautiful display (or, in Ken's experience, the look of dried blood :-( ), please post them, or a link. I did a quick search and couldn't find a thing.

Holly

yeah yeah.. and if you give me guilder i will tell you how i really feel ... lol ...

here are some pix of the brilliant coloration of Picea abies 'Lundell's Red Needle' [that is sarcasm] .. 75 bucks i wish i NEVER spent ... and this is what i meant when i said chocolate

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and here the year following .. probably with a better camera ....... note the difference in bud size ... perhaps days apart developmentally speaking .... really impressive an that pic of the whole tree ... basically butt ugly but for 72 hours in spring ....

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yeah joy.. its hard to believe there is one conifer i developed a hate for.. lol

ken

Here's a good-looking specimen:
Picea abies 'Rydal'
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Fantastic pic, Spruce!

Josh

Euan, unfortunately I don't have pics of these beauties. In that time of year I'm packing orders from morning till evening and allways forget to take some pics.
I can only tell you from my own experiences...

Richard, thanks again for this very nice pic, that 'Rydal' is a true beauty!

Ken, you do have a serious memory problem.
About 2 years ago you called the red spring growth "it's spring glory', now you wish that you never bought it.

I also mentioned then that 'Lundell's Red Needle' isn't a right cultivar name, it's a renaming for 'Cruenta' or 'Rydal'.
Let me fresh up your mind again...

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea abies 'Lundell's Red Needle'

so what ... i need to invest another 10 years into maturing mine to see if it ends up looking like this one.. WHICH IS AWESOME ....???

i dont know if i have the patience ...

i wonder if latitude makes a difference..

one thing i really think is problematic for the OP ... he is in z7 ... bordering on being DOWN SOUTH ... i wonder if his spring heat will be an issue ... i wonder what the mean temp is when p. abies buds out in spring ....

sprucebud .. where is that plant ... is it yours.. how old is it????

ken

Hi Ken,
The plant is in a friend's garden in the north of England. I took that picture last year in early May when it was at its most impressive. I don't actually know its age but it must have been there 25(?) years I would imagine.
Richard

One good thing about Ken's pic is that I found out that the 'Lundell's Red Needle' is a renaming for 'Cruenta' and not for 'Rydal'.
It's an open structure, temporary red needled Picea abies cultivar.

Richard's pic shows us the 'Rydal' which is a more closed structure temporary red needled Picea abies cultivar.

Both could be very beautiful speciments but I would prefer the 'Cruenta' for the bigger garden.

Hmm I wonder if a spruce with red needles all year round
will turn up would be fantastic.

A little infestation of Spruce Bark Beetle will give you the red needled spruce you desire. :-)

Does anyone have experience with Picea abies 'Pacific Fire'? Apparently this was a witches broom found on Picea abies 'Rubra Spicata'. I would love to see some pics: all the more acquire one. Thanks, everyone!

-Sam

Sam, I think you mean Picea abies 'Spring Fire' instead of 'Pacific Fire'.
'Spring Fire' was found as a witches'broom on a 'Rubraspicata' at the Iseli Nursery.