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Colorado Blue Spruce
Picea pungens
Colorado Blue Spruce is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Mature size, hardiness zones, sun and the trait tags were checked against named botanical sources for this plant. The bloom months and water need on this page were not.
Growing Colorado Blue Spruce
Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 2–7. Expect it to reach about 49 ft tall and 20 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 20 years.
When to plant Colorado Blue Spruce
Plant Colorado Blue Spruce 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. For the middle of its hardy zones 2 to 7 range, that is April to June, or August on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar: for the middle of its range, start with zone 5 in April.
9 more varieties in the Spruce family
Same family, similar care - pick the one you are growing.
Good to know about Colorado Blue Spruce
Curated from university extensions, botanic gardens and other primary sources, with the source named on every note.
Worth knowing
The silvery-blue color is not pigment but a waxy coating on the needles. The bluest selections vary from tree to tree, so they are propagated by name. per NC State
Should you plant it?
In cool, dry climates like its native Rockies it stays healthy. In the humid East and Midwest it is chronically diseased, and extensions there now advise against planting it. per NC State and Wisconsin
Its worst needle disease
Rhizosphaera needle cast is its worst disease: inner needles on the lower branches turn purple-brown and drop, working up and out, sometimes leaving bare holes. per UMass and Wisconsin
Branch dieback from the bottom
Cytospora canker attacks stressed trees, killing branches from the bottom up over years. The giveaway is white resin oozing over the bark. There is no cure. per UMass and Morton
Deer and rabbit resistant
The stiff, sharp, spine-tipped needles deter deer and rabbits, so it is rated resistant to both. Under heavy pressure it is a deterrent, not a guarantee. per NC State
Harmless tip galls
Cooley gall adelgids make 2 to 4 in cone-like galls at branch tips, green then browning by mid-July. They look alarming but are largely cosmetic. per Colorado State and UMass
What pairs well with Colorado Blue Spruce
Good companions share its growing conditions and add something it lacks: an earlier or later bloom, a lower carpet in front, or structure through winter.
Try Colorado Blue Spruce with its top companions in a garden →
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