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Colorado Blue Spruce
LEAVES: Needles 4-sided, stiff, in-curved and spiny pointed to 1/4", usually blush-green, persist for 7-10 years. TWIGS: Orange-brown turning gray-brown with age, without hairs. Buds dark orange-brown. FRUIT: Cones to 4" long, cylindrical, tapering slightly at the tips, shiny chestnut brown; scales with irregularly toothed margins. BARK: Relatively thin, scaly and pale gray when young becoming furrowed and reddish-brown with age. GENERAL: A widely planted ornamental in Pennsylvania, Blue spruce is native to the Rocky Mountains at elevations of 5,900'-10,000'. Slow growing and long lived, specimens can reach 150' high. Cultivated varieties can have silvery-white or golden-yellow needles. |
