Without sounding like a tool, I'd have to comment that CBS isn't a particularly inappropriate tree for the hot, humid climate of zn 7 Maryland. There are good looking specimens around, but they are the exception. Diseased and dying branches are the norm. If you're up around Frederick, which is really more like 6b, they might do better. Maybe the bluest trees have a lot of dead branches because they are the most "alpine" phenotype, and thus the most unhappy under our East Coast conditions. If you saw one that was "completely green" I'd have to wonder if it was a hybrid with a species that does better, like Picea abies. There are some that are a more bluish-green and a less attractive fat/rounded shape. Unlike Picea abies that just gets better and better looking, in my opinion, the oldest Picea pungens are unattractive, spindly, gawky things that look totally out of place with most other plants grown in the East. I've seen some that have every third tier of branches dying out for an amusing "striped" appearance going up 40-50 ft.

My first garden had 3 of them that looked fairly good. Being seedlings their habits were different but at least their colors matched. They were on the absolute highest part of the lot, where the developer probably used rocky fill to level off an area next to a cul-de-sac. If you insist on having one look around your neighborhood to find a good looking one and see the conditions under which it was planted, I can almost guarantee it will be at the top of a slope or on soil that for some reason is very well drained. They might do better in a sandy soil area but I don't recall seeing many of them on the eastern shore or southern MD. If the nursery industry gave a damn they'd graft or micropropagate a form selected to do well on the East Coast, but they don't.

Might I recommend a Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca', 10X as interesting looking, surely as blue as the bluest CBS and 10X as appropriate to a humid zn 7 East Coast climate. There's a mature one at the corner of 26th St. North and N. Wakefield St. in Arlington, VA, if you want to see what one looks like, although it wasn't correctly pruned in its youth. (at least it was there about 5 years ago)

this

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:689855}}

according to Bing it's still there, tho a block north of where I said. It looks gorgeous even on an aerial photograph.

forget about the bigboxstore..

jsut call the link below.. or any other mail order place.. and order a hoopsi

at the link.. $18 plus postage...

it will be about 1 to 2 feet tall ... establish faster than a 4 foot bigboxswtore.. and be so blue it will knock your socks off

your debate over the esoteric form of a rogue seedlings can last thru infinity ...

just go for the blue.. and dont worry about the form it will take ...

i dont have time to study the current debate.. i just had to spur you to action ... [i will do that later]
FORGET ABOUT BIGBOXSTORE ... they aint blue enough

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thank you David for detailed answer. I am in Baltimore, so hot and humid is all ours. I have been agonizing over to plant or not to plant CBS for a very long time. I have been trying to spot them around and many times I have seen very good looking ones, if only I can be sure that I classify them right. That's why I went to the arboretum, because they have tugs on them. :)
I want to plant at the top of the slope in full sun.
The tree that you suggested looks very beautiful. I will definitely consider it.

Thanks ken_adrian. Invigorating kick in the hmm... (bottom part of ones body) is needed sometimes. I agree the Hoopsi is great cultivar. I am thinking about getting it as the specimen tree and coincidentally from Girard nursery (by the way what do you think of them?). This time however I am planting the wind/view screen.
"Hoopsi" seem to be narrower at the base and slower growing than generic CBS.

Sounds like green CBS don't become sparse as quickly. I never considered that while looking at the landscapes here regarding your question. In Illinois it is also hot and humid, so time is thee\ only factor holding back the quality and appearance of this spruce species. In reality, so don't let it become a big issue, you'll get a lot of good years out of them.

I think a seedling screen would be much more appealing than just of a single cultivar. I've seen em...

For me here, :! it were the greenest pungens of the group I planted... the rest I handed over to my neighbor.

Dax

i can not speak to your heat and zone .... as i am life long z5 handicapped ...

the girards peep are just great peeps.. great value for price ...

the only caution i might make.. is to nearly bare root anything you get.. no matter from who .. and find out if the plant is root bound in the pot ... untangle or prune to reduce future problems ...

below are the pix i promised ...

in closing.. for 20 odd bucks.. plant one if it thrills you.. if in 10 years it is a problem .. get rid of it.. most likely.. you will blow more per year on a coffee rather than the 2 bucks over ten years ... no matter which plant you choose ...

good luck

ken

here are some pix

2006
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2008 with growth chart ....
{{gwi:689859}}
and some closeups ....
{{gwi:689860}}
{{gwi:689861}}
{{gwi:689862}}

Could you plant three of the Hoopsi or should the tree stand alone? What would you plant with the Hoopsi to start a privacy screen?

I would use Picea p. 'Fat Albert'... a densely compact broad pyramid; if you want a bullet proof privacy screen.

Buy your stock from a nursery that has good stock. Most big box stores carry the poorest forms of Picea pungens that lack good blue color.

Dave
{{gwi:689863}}

Thanks Dave, I'm actually going to check out a place in Hillsborough NJ. The Fat Albert is one of the trees on my list.

Funny I was about to mention that. It's safe to assume a reputable Eastern seaboard wholesaler like Foxborough would at least prefer to produce a form that grows well on the East Coast, all things being equal which they seldom are. And indeed Fat Albert is one they list:

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.foxboroughnursery.com/viewItem.aspx?id=PPFA5