The container size sounds ok, as long as the soil drains very well & you're careful about not over-watering. The two issues that you'll need to watch for are spider mites - they love the A. spruces, and winter dessication. If the soil freezes they dry out very quickly - especially in containers, so Wilt-Pruf (or equal) or a burlap wrap to slow the wind are good measures to keep in the back of your mind. Al

Oh Ken what wonderful thoughts ~ spoken well, like a true dirt-digger & plant lover w/ sensible reservations!!! It won't reach 34deg 'til late this aft'noon so I decided to take this babe to my very cold laundry room w/ E windows (am so challenged to rescue from her threatened state) ~ tied the curtain, half way albeit shear, for same kind of light as where she sat in the fam. room window shelf. Also wrapped around her a clear cellophane to keep from anymore drying despite closed heat-vents & even gave her a tepid drink of tea. She should do ok better than my somewhat darker & colder garage. I figured if my nearly 12y/o Rosemary makes it there sitting by the 2nd E-window, baby Alberta should have no problem ... fingers xx'd for now!!! My Dau is not comming 'til Jun ~ hopefully both babies (Alberta & tree-form Rosemary) would have recovered to look decent & take their bows. Rosemary may not be a tree-form by then as she has lost much branches & will need a good hair-cut! Since my dau's move South she's been sending Hydrangeas to add to my collection ~ am now running out of real estate. My grand-dau knows that bird-houses to replace the old ones, are in my wish-list!!! Many thanks again Ken & bboy. Will keep you posted, Spring can't be too long now. My *Glory of Snow* has sprouted just before this last recent snow-storm ~ am wondering how they're doing under the ft of snow! Sigh!!!

get rid of it.. its not a question of whether it will live.. or recover its a question of how long it is going to be.. before it looks good again.. and that could be 3 to 5 years.. for a TREE that you can replace for under 10 bucks ... and do mind.. ITS A TREE.. otherwise known as a conifer.. and its root system.. should be as big.. if not double.. the size of what you see above.. and when you wrap your head around that.. and look at the pot its in.. you should be able to fully understand.. what its root problem is [pun intended] .... but for bonsai ... trees do not have a long life potential in pots... divest for sure .. ken

I have had 2 in my frount yard right in the middle, north facing no protection, and the 1st one died the 1st winter b/c hubby buried it with snow from our driveway that had been driven on many times so was packed with road salt. Last spring we replaced it with another one from a neighbor who'd had it for 3 years and wanted to change her yard around. It grew lots over last year, overwintered again no protection, (this time not buried with driveway snow) and this spring it's grown twice as big as it was last year! The more I learn the more I think we are Zone 2B not 3, and I'd totally get another one! Put it in a bit of a protected area, give it more winter protection and go for it. It never hurts to try. I have carnations I bought from seed thru Thompson & Morgan last year, they say zone 7US (so canadian zone 8), I was told by everyone not to bother even trying to start the seed, but I did anyways and not only did they germinate but by mid Aug I had buds! Course they hadn't bloomed by mid sept yet so I cut the flower stalks off and started getting them ready for winter. In beginning of Nov. I covered the whole plants with leaves from a neighbors yard and left them be. In end of March I pulled the leaves off the plants themselves but left the leaves inbetween the plants and cut back all the dead plant material. By mid April it was obvious the new growth, last wk I noticed flower stalks starting and 3 days ago I saw the 1st buds forming. I lost less than 2% of the plants I started last year from seed. This year? I bought another pkg of seeds and had 100% germination rate, my plan for winter? same as last. I wrote to Thompson & Morgan and told them what I thought of their zone hardiness rating, they responded and said I must be doing something right and to enjoy my carnations and they hoped I'd send their company pictures of them in my beds in bloom b/c they were amazed. Get your Dwarf Alberta spruce, the worst thing that can happen is they don't survive. But honestly Alberta has terrible winters, I bet the reason lots of people have little success is they baby them too much. Myself, 2 neighbors and my best friend have never given ours protection and they are doing just fine.