Botanical Name:

Picea pungens

Common Name:

Colorado spruce, Colorado blue spruce, blue spruce

Family Name:

Pinaceae – pine family

General Description:

Picea pungens is one of the most popular and widely planted spruces in the Chicago area. It is a very adaptable tree well-known for its formal, dense, stiff habit and blue foliage. However, the foliage color can vary from green to slightly blue to strikingly blue. For consistent blue foliage a grafted named cultivar should be selected. Colorado spruce is native to the central and southern Rocky Mountains and once established, is considered one of the most drought tolerant spruces species.

Zone:

3-7

Resources Consulted:

Dirr, Michael A. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses. Champaign: Stipes, 2009. Print.

"The PLANTS Database." USDA, NRCS. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA, 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.

Creator:

Julia Fitzpatrick-Cooper, Professor, College of DuPage

Creation Date:

2014

Keywords/Tags:

Pinaceae, tree, conifer, cone, needle, evergreen, Picea pungens, Colorado spruce, blue spruce

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