Norway Spruce (Picea abies) - foliage plant, illustrated plant cardIllustration

Norway Spruce

Picea abies

Norway Spruce is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.

Bloom time
Foliage plant
not yet checked
Hardiness
Zones 3–7
not yet checked
Sun
Full sun
not yet checked
Water
Moderate water
not yet checked
Mature size
59 ft × 26 ft
not yet checked
Type
Conifer
house classification

Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.

Growing Norway Spruce

Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 3–7. Expect it to reach about 59 ft tall and 26 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 20 years (not yet checked).

No toxicity note is on file for Norway Spruce. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.

Verification
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 Norway Spruce

Plant Norway 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. In zone 5, the middle of its hardy zones 3 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 Norway Spruce get?

Illustration of Norway Spruce drawn to scale beside an adult59 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult26 ftwide
About 59 ft tall and 26 ft wide at maturity: about 11 times as tall as an adult.

See Norway Spruce 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 Norway Spruce

Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.

Give Norway Spruce about 26 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.

Clear ground around it
26 ft in every direction

Add Norway Spruce to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.

The Spruce group

One of 10 in the Spruce group. Same genus, similar care.

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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.

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