Friday, December 22, 2006

Colorado Blue Spruce

My dad has blue spruce acting as a wind break in his yard. If left, they can reach heights of 115 feet and live as long as 800 years. Especially in its native range in the Rockies. The soft, brittle wood is used for posts, poles and firewood. My dad's trees were important shelters for the neighborhood rabbits, until he removed some of the lower limbs. Now, they just help the birds and squirrels shelter.

The bark is scaley and thin. It starts off grey in color and deepens to a reddish brown with maturity. The bark flakes off in circular patches about 5-10 cm in diameter. The needles range in color from grey-green to slate blue. The needles are noticably four sided, although more in rhombic configuration. And they an inch to an inch and a half long. They have a resinous odor when crushed.

Trees have male and female flowers in different locations on the tree. The female flowers form cones which are initially reddish purple, but fade to pale brown upon maturity. The cones hang from the branches up to two years after the seeds have fallen. The scales on the cones have a wavy edge.

1 comment:

Joe Franklin said...

My favorite part about the blue spruce tree their reddish to violet colored cones. If you need some more blue spruce trees make sure to swing by my home gardening website. There you will find a slew of landscape and gardening articles. Keep up the great blog.