Blue spruce, Picea pungens, generally experience difficulties in areas that are not similar in climate to their native habitat, which is the higher elevation areas of the Rockies. Climates that are not sufficiently cold in winter or hot and dry in summer - they are especially intolerant of high summer humidity - tend to create stressful growing conditions that lead to various disease and insect issues that can seriously defoliate and weaken the tree.

Hmmm....now you have me wondering. We bought two of them at the beginning of winter '15. They are still in pots, and we were thinking of planting them in the very back edge of our southeast yard. We watered them until it was very cold. Then come the first of spring, I've been watering them everyday. They had small little cones on them that eventually fell off just recently, and produced tons of new spruce needles. I may just leave them in containers? Just transfer them to larger planters. I have a Dwarf Alberta Spruce in my front yard NE. They get spider mites, but all I do is spray them every so often with a sprayer hose, and that seems to do the trick. I'll be looking forward to answers from others who know more about them.

We've got one a very small one in a pot also and it has put on some beautiful new growth this spring! I'd love to have a big one out in the front yard, but when I look around town I rarely see one that actually looks healthy. Most of them are struggling.

That is exactly the same in my location. One often sees quite large trees that have obviously been growing for many years but one seldom encounters an example that looks healthy. Nearly all have significant interior and lower needle loss, indicating various disease and insect issues. Even the smaller growing dwarf forms look sickly after a short period of time.

I really like the globe shaped ones too but in all my driving around looking at peoples landscaping I've only ever seen two that looked nice... and I can only assume they were purchased that size and just haven't declined yet.

I'm trying to come up with a unique evergreen to go out near the end of our driveway... will have full sun. No limit on height, but only about 8-10ft wide max. I love pines and hemlock and blue spruce etc. (don't really want a leyland or green giant since they're so common here and they'd be too wide)

We've been warned not to plant Leyland's because of bagworm problems in our area. Our neighbor has a small one right by the edge of their front porch, though. And I see them for sale at the local big box stores. Our landscaper was going to have Green Giants installed in ours but I didn't want any that big. We ended up planting several Emerald Green Arborvitae. They are wonderful so far. I just finished cleaning out their base to breathe better. They are thriving, and bright green. They have become my husband's favorite evergreens. They grow to about 15' in height and about 3-4' wide. I have them in the shaded areas, and full sun areas. So far no problems whatsoever.

I'm a big fan of the arborvitae! We have two old ones by our porch. What do you mean about cleaning out their base? I've often wondered if I should pull all the years of mulch away from the stem. I've never paid much attention to them until recently.

I like the Italian, or Columnar Cypress as a driveway entrance. Little visibility problem, a stately presence, and little maintenance. I really, really like when they line both sides of a driveway, but that's not cheap.

Kitchenlady~They get brown in the middle with old leaves and dead branches that fall and collect at their base. I was told to just go around and clear the base of the brown, dead leaves. I just grab them with my hands, and leave in the beds to mulch. I was able to see some webs too and blasted those off with some water. We planted them last spring at about 3-4 ft tall.

Nanakeroyd, do you have to supplement the water in any way? Is it on drip irrigation or anything? What type of soil is it in?🙂