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What's your favorite of the upright P. pungens cultivars? Hoopsii etc

Smith127 (7b GA)

3 years ago

I found a spot on a slight slope that has afternoon cover and I'm going to try my luck. I had some success with Iseli Fastigate at my old garden, but now I want to grow a full size Blue Spruce here in Atlanta. The goal is for it to be a show stopper and have a moderately long life, and I have the room for it to get 10-15' wide. I figure even if I only get 10 years before it needs to be removced - its probably worth it. Honestly, Blue Spruce is partly what attracted me to conifers so I may never stop trying. By the way - if you haven't seen it already Sara at the ACS wrote a great article on Blue Spruce Diseases.

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Comments (5)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 years ago
"The goal is for it to be a show stopper and have a moderately long life,"

Sorry, but I believe that is a very unrealistic expectation in GA. Even here in the PNW, without anywhere close to the summer heat and humidity of GA, these trees struggle mightily. It is rare to find one of any age that is not suffering from some climate related fungal needlecast issue.

There are very few locations in the US where Colorado spruce will grow well enough to have a long life and be a show stopper. And Georgia is not one of them.
Embothrium
3 years ago
Even cool and summer dry Seattle is full of planted true firs and spruces yet very many of any significant vintage have some level of blight or bug problem affecting their decorative value.
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Yeah that would drive me crazy... I had a few light colored Jap maples that I took out... just because my mid summer nearly every leaf was brown. You just never know until you try something out. Actually, I don't really have anything blue to fit this location. Most of my blues are small ground hugging conifers with the Exception of 'Hoopsii'. Although the perfect color, it would outgrow the space fast. If you look close and I mean very close, you can see the 6" 'Hoopsii' in the photo above Actually, you can't see the plant itself... just the white nursery tag lol. I do have 2 picea pungens 'Sester's Dwarf'. One of them is in a bed by itself that I decided to put on hold for a couple of years. This bed doesn't have an mulch or other trees... just a little dead grass from the roundup I used to outline the bed. This could be another option. I'm thinking to much about it, I know... but it looks like my options are: 1) Picea pungens 'Sester's Dwarf' (right now it's about 2' tall) 2)Picea pungens 'Glauca Pendula' 3) A red Japanese maple such as Acer palmatum 'Skeeter's broom' or similar. Japanese maples offer the best red colored trees IMO, but I would hate to buy one until I see how my current 6-7 will do over the next few years. 2 of them hate sun, and the rest suffer slight dieback in the winter. So I'm still testing the water on these. I've just never been a fan of other red maples or other trees that may revert to green in the summer like my crab.
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basic, is your location by the garage mostly sunny ? I don't know how much either of those would like a shady spot, but I figure you already knew that. I have (4) Bakeri along my back fence ... and for me, I think they were perfect because I wanted to fit them in a narrower space with only 10' (or less) on either side. The Bakeri seems even more irregular shaped than the Hoopsi ... and my 7' Hoopsi is actually rather perfect shaped overall. But the color from either a winner, I'd say. I saw a Bakeri next to the 'Bizon Blue' and it was just as good, just less dense. I guess I'd give a slight nod towards getting the Bakeri if the size is bigger and the price is only a tad more.
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Well, I'll say that right now my Hoopsi (yeah, probably from Oregon) is one color, all the way down the branches and to the trunk ... and the new growth was spectacular and quite a bit more significant than my same-sized baby blue eyes. So for me, the Hoopsi definately grows more per year, which makes sense considering how small the baby blue eyes gets according to most sources. Both had nice blue color, but the Hoopsi put on new growth of 4-7" and the baby blue eyes only 1-2" . Mine Hoopsi is also more of steel-blue and the Baby Blue Eyes a tad darker ... but still striking. Based on what Ken is saying, I'll be interested to see if my 'blue all the way through' Hoopsi stays this way ... after a winter in Z4/5 CO at 6500' . I consider it a 'real winter' and the harsh winds and cold temps are real here, maybe not as bad as the upper midwest. If mine fades, then I'll subscribe to Ken's theory on the Hoopsi's being from milder climates staying all blue. If it stays all blue, then I'll stay with what Dave is saying about "some" having a fully blue characteristic, which is what mine is currently is like. The pictures of Kens Hoopsi looks more like the Thompsen I have seen locally at Lowes, but of course, Kens was WAY nicer!!!
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Smith127 (7b GA)
Original Author
3 years ago
@gardengal48

i have seen a handful of pungens in my area that were 10+ yrs old that look okay. Also, the national arboretum (which has similar climate to north Atlanta) has been able to keep 20-30 yr old specimens looking okay. I'll take 15 yrs

if anyone is interested - you can flip through 4 different google map pictures over 9 years at the national arboretum and gauge growth rates, disease resistance, etc. . https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9150672,-76.9568777,3a,69.6y,269.16h,83.51t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sY6dAI738jy2yZ5iLdSpJtQ!2e0!5s20180601T000000!7i16384!8i8192
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 years ago
Smith127, there have been endless discussions here of the inappropriateness of Picea pungens cultivars across wide swaths of the country. https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/conif/query/blue-spruce-problems/nqrw

And 10 years old is barely out of infancy for these trees and 15 years is certainly not going to get you a full sized specimen.

btw, the Google images are not at all clear in their depiction of the trees shown nor close enough to determine the degree of disease present. Cuz I can guarantee there is some!!
Embothrium
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
The NA might be spraying theirs. Anyway you may have read this. If not:

Colorado Blue Spruce – Planting | Walter Reeves: The Georgia Gardener

Same guy also has this up:

‘Fat Albert’ Colorado Spruce – Branches Dying | Walter Reeves: The Georgia Gardener

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