Blue spruce, description
Spruce “Blue” is a plant demanded by gardeners and landscape designers. A low blue herringbone is planted on city streets and courtyards solely for decorative purposes. It can be a great addition to any architectural form. The tree looks great in single and group plantings.
Full name – Canadian spruce “Sanders Blue”. The coniferous plant is a new variety, an analogue of the Canadian “Konica”, obtained in 1986. According to the forecasts of breeders, in the coming years “Blue” will overtake the maternal form in demand.
Spruce “Blue” loves open sunny places
Spruce prickly “Blue” has a regular conical shape, lives only 50 years. By the peak of maturity, the tree reaches 1-3 m in height, gaining 4 cm per year.
Let’s highlight several characteristic features of an ornamental plant:
- soft needle-shaped needles 6-10 cm long, bright blue;
- fruits – rare small cones of light brown color;
- densely growing short shoots of light brown shades;
- crown with a diameter of 1,5 m.
The beauty of the spruce depends on the correct planting. If you plant trees in close groups, their decorative effect will be lost, since the crown will partially dry out. The better the illumination, the deeper and richer the color of the needles.
Planting Blue spruce and caring for the plant
The tree is unpretentious. Its main advantage: resistance to urban conditions. It is insensitive to dry and warm air. Blue retains its beauty in the polluted, crowded streets.
The plant propagates by cuttings. It is desirable to produce it in the first half of June. When planting, consider the preferences of the tree. It loves:
- well lit areas;
- fertile moist soil;
- permeable loosened topsoil.
A light-loving spruce will feel good in light partial shade. When planting, add a mixture of sand, peat, earth mixed with fallen leaves and turf to the hole.
So that the tree does not lose its decorative effect, periodically loosen and weed the near-stem circle. Do not under any circumstances dig it up. Mulch the tree trunk area with loose compost and peat. Make sure that the root layer of the soil does not dry out. Water the tree regularly during dry seasons. At the beginning of summer, we recommend feeding the spruce with compost or manure.
Spruce is suitable for planting in open ground, as well as in containers. Wood can be used to enrich the appearance of streets, courtyards, balconies, roofs and terraces. In winter, it can become the main decoration of the New Year’s celebration.