Pretty Blue Spruce
alley_cat_gw_7b
11 months ago
Picea pungens 'Scottie'
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tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
11 months ago
maackia
11 months agoRelated Discussions
How's my not-so-blue "blue spruce" doing?
Comments (7)at the link.. is a guy who knows how to buy mulch ... i had suggested.. way back when.. a delivery by stake truck ... i dont recall having read how you did it all .. though i do recall that you suggested it nearly killed you .. lol... if you asked.. i missed it.. the one time i bought black mulch ... it retained so much heat.. and got so hot in the sun.. it cooked some of my groundcover type plants ... so .. in the future.. you might want to go a different direction ... in fact.. with your blue house .. an un-colored mulch.. which fades to grey would be my suggestion ... BTW.. is yours actually dyed black.. or is that just natural??? the soil in these pics.. look KINDA dry ... if its just surface.. that OK ... if your finger..a t 2 or 3 inches.. indicates to is still damp.. down in the root mass ... i suspect i know why your mulch is pulled so far back ...but if that is basically the surface of what was in the pot. and you did not break the pot ball up well ... you might want to not leave the mulch at the edge of where the pot was ... bring it closer to the trunk ... but not mounded on the trunk .... it will help alleviate the 'look' of being bone dry ... and finally.. it looks just like most of my picea pungens .. [how about you move toward latin names] .... they are some of the latest conifers to get a move on .... your buds look just fine .... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link...See MoreWhat's a better choice - blue spruce or norway spruce
Comments (26)Wow - you dug up a seriously old post! So I did end up planting a very long screen -- basically the entire length of the property line -- and I'm actually really happy with how it turned out. We used Thuja Green Giant arborvitae in the center where the tallest part of the house we are trying to block out is -- we planted them a decent distance apart, not all jammed up like I see people do for a property line screen. They have grown fast, widened out, and are basically almost up to the roof of the house we are trying to hide. I think they should cap out right about 35 feet or so, which won't block the view. We planted a few during our initial planting then filled in with a few more a couple years later -- those later plantings are a bit stunted - not sure if it's because we squeezed them into less space or they were just inferior to begin with (originals came from a nursery and were planted by a landscaper, later ones from Home Depot and we DIYed them). But they are all growing well and healthy, and seem impervious to deer, wind, cold, snow, etc. To the sides of the arborvitate, we used Nellie Stevens hollies. They too have grown fast. They don't much care for the wind -- they ended up looking pretty bad by the end of the last two winters (which were brutally cold and windy) but they filled in with new leaves in the spring. The deer don't seem to eat them either. And again, I think they cap out at 20 feet or so. To the sides of that (which is getting away from blocking the house and now just screening their yard from ours) we used forsythias planted very close together that we let grow wild into a thick hedge -- mainly because I love forsythia. It's not evergreeen but the hedge is so thick and branches are so close together that it does a decent job of screening even in winter. And in spring when it is in bloom, it is an absolutely stunning wall of yellow. Again the deer don't bother them and they seem to grow well without much care. And finally at the very end of the property lines, we used sea green junipers -- again, we were looking for something evergreen but it didn't need to be tall - we were only trying to hide the neighbor's "junk pile" which was unfortunately located so that it was the first thing you saw when you pulled into our driveway. Those are the plants that look the sickliest -- there's always big brown patches in them and the snow breaks the branches. But they are farthest from the house and from far away they look ok, so I don't mind them. I think if I had to do it over again, I'd have used all forsythia instead of also using juniper -- the forsythia are just so amazingly gorgeous when they are in bloom. I would take a picture for you but we are in the middle of a storm right now -- if I remember, I will get one tomorrow. Here's a link to a pic of what it looked like when we first planted itin 2009: Newly planted And here's a shot from the summer of 2012 (sorry for lousy pic -- best I could find): Three years old I would say that this year it really started to look good since the green giants are basically touching now....See MoreFat Albert Blue Spruce lower branches dark rest bright blue - why
Comments (3)Local climate not conducive to best appearance of blue forms of Colorado Spruce, White Fir and Rocky Mountain Juniper. The spruce is often attacked by spruce aphids, which cause needles to drop off. The fir seems to have a tendency to become gaunt with age on its own, but probably there is a specific, causal factor less obvious than aphids. The juniper develops green algae on the second year foliage, so does the spruce. Results vary with specimen and location within the region, of course, but when you see one of these in the more naturally suited climate of eastern WA the superiority of their appearance is startling....See Morealberta spruce with twist of blue spruce
Comments (2)It is reversion from dwarf to typical Alberta Spruce (a variety of White Spruce, Picea glauca var. albertiana). Dwarf Alberta Spruce is a slow-growing fixed juvenile foliage cultivar of Alberta Spruce, and often an individual shoot will develop normal adult foliage. If you want to keep it as a dwarf, prune the shoot out. If left, it will develop into a large tree. Resin...See More
Ontario_Canada5a_USDA4b
11 months ago
bengz6westmd
11 months agoalley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agoLol tj…fast on your feet!
Maackia, heck yeah to the thread.
The trunk to the right is a maple I raised to get some sun to a 'Gold drift' that's close by. The maple is coming out but not until fall…
Ontario, At first I thought you were talking about this golden 'Helleri holly...
alley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agoOntario_Canada5a_USDA4b
11 months agoplantkiller_il_5
11 months agoOntario_Canada5a_USDA4b
11 months agoalley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agoHere's my 'Gold Drift' which is one of the reasons I'm removing the maple. Nows not good timing to remove it all at once with the heat of the summer coming... but I have been limbing it up to say the least
plantkiller_il_5
11 months agoalley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agotsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
11 months agoPungens pix, eh? Here’s ’St. Mary’s Broom’. Tough to get a pic to do it justice, but at 20 years old it is 4 feet high and 7 feet wide.
Close up.
tj
plantkiller_il_5
11 months agolast modified: 11 months agoPicea pungens ' Skyline'
Although I spray it anyway , this has no signs of needle castron
al , I have to look
Ontario_Canada5a_USDA4b
11 months agolast modified: 11 months agomaackia
11 months agoI just planted this P. pungens ’Montgomery’.
And here’s an older ‘Montgomery‘ at Chicago Botanic Garden.
alley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agoTj that's a beast! The biggest one I've ever seen. Here's one I was growing until I tripped and broke it in half...gone
alley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
11 months agoalley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agoHere's slenderina! About 12' tall.
Not as happy these days with others blocking out alot of her sunshine
alley_cat_gw_7b
11 months ago
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 months agoOntario_Canada5a_USDA4b
11 months agomaackia
11 months agoalley_cat_gw_7b
11 months agoI think globosa and hoopsii have always been touted as some of the bluest out there. That debate has been around for a long time.
Just as important, if not more so is planting site, climate,micro climate , root conditions, moisture n sun amounts, planting techniques etc etc...and that's just to have a chance at peak performance.
Here's one I grew for years until one ultra wet season came along and gave it the death march...needle cast, pink needles,insects and everything else...gone
plantkiller_il_5
11 months agoOntario_Canada5a_USDA4b
11 months ago
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