Illustration
Fat Albert
Picea pungens 'Fat Albert'
Fat Albert is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Fat Albert
Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 2–7. Expect it to reach about 30 ft tall and 13 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 20 years (not yet checked).
No toxicity note is on file for Fat Albert. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.
What this means
Written with AI assistance and not yet checked plant by plant against recorded sources, so treat every fact above as a starting point. Its scientific name was checked against botanical registries, an audit keeps its values consistent with the rest of the library, and a July 2026 review re-read the main facts of every plant then in the library against horticultural authorities without recording a source for each, which is why none of that counts as checked here. The source-by-source check is working through the whole library in the open, and a checked plant says so in this row.
When to plant Fat Albert
Plant Fat Albert in spring once the soil is workable, or by very early fall at the latest: an evergreen needs its roots down well before the ground freezes. In zone 5, the middle of its hardy zones 2 to 7, that is April to June, or August on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 5, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 5 in April. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Fat Albert get?
30 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult13 ftwideSee Fat Albert in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Fat Albert
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Give Fat Albert about 13 ft of clear ground in every direction, measured from its center. It is one plant with room around it, not a row, and a raised bed is too small for it.
Add Fat Albert to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Explore similar plants
You might also like
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
FoliageDesign a garden with this
Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.