Content
The proximity of conifers has a beneficial effect on humans. And not only because they purify and saturate the air with phytoncides. The beauty of evergreen trees, which do not lose their attractiveness all year round, cheers up and pleases the eye. Unfortunately, not all conifers are comfortable in Russia. Spruce Prickly is just the culture that tolerates frost perfectly, requires minimal maintenance, and is also considered the most beautiful representative of the genus Picea.
Description of Spruce Barbed
The natural range of Picea pungens is the west of North America. It grows at an altitude of 2-3 thousand meters in sparse plantings, often together with Engelman's Spruce, Yellow and Twisted Pines, pseudo-lump.
The timber of the culture lends itself well to processing, but it is rarely used, since it is difficult to get it in the mountains, and the transportation of logs is even more difficult. More often, thorny spruce is used in landscape design. The most popular are trees with blue needles, thanks to which the species is known under another name: Blue Spruce.
Due to the variety of varieties, the culture can be found in small and large private plots, in parks, near administrative buildings. They are used to decorate avenues, embankments, places of public leisure. Landscape designers love to plant medium-sized varieties of blue spruce near their home. Most of the upright varieties reproduce well by seeds, therefore they live for a long time. They can be used as a "family tree" and decorated with toys and electric garlands on New Year's Eve.
The stern of the beautiful blue needles, the thorny spruce differs from other representatives of the genus by its deep root system, which makes it resistant to windbreaking, which allows it to be planted in open areas. The culture loves the sun, especially the forms with silvery and bluish needles. It is distinguished by excellent frost resistance and better than other types withstands smoke, air pollution, is least demanding on soils and can withstand a short drought.
In nature, an adult Colorado Spruce grows up to 30-35 m with a crown width of 6-8 m and a trunk diameter of 1-2 m.It lives 600-800 m.Naturally, in urban conditions, even grown from seeds, a tree will not last so much, but , with proper care, will delight several generations.
The branches of an adult species of spruce are directed horizontally, or droop at different angles. They form dense tiers and form a beautiful conical crown.
The needles are tetrahedral, sharp, with a waxy coating, directed in all directions, 2-3 cm long. Under natural conditions, it lasts up to 5 years on branches. When growing a prickly spruce as an ornamental plant, by the time the needles fall off, you can determine its health: if the needles live less than 3 years, something is wrong with the tree. Perhaps the plant simply does not have enough water or fertilizer. The color of the needles can be blue, dark green or silver. The color does not change depending on the season.
Thorny spruce blooms in June. At the age of 10-15, female cones appear, after 20-25 - male ones. Their shape is oval-cylindrical, often slightly curved, length - 6-10 cm, width in the thickest place - 3 cm. The color of the cones is beige, the scales are thin, with a wavy edge. They ripen in the fall of the year following pollination. Dark brown seeds 3-4 mm in size with a wing up to 1 cm are light, have good germination.
Thorny spruce has a thin, rough, grayish-brown bark. She grows slowly, tolerates haircuts well.
Variety of prickly spruce
There are many varieties of prickly spruce, and they differ in variety:
- the most popular are traditionally considered Hoopsie, Koster and Glauka, although perhaps not everyone knows their names and simply call them “blue spruce”;
- the dwarf variety Mister Caesarini is distinguished by a cushion shape and blue-green needles;
- compact Thume with blue needles and a dense, unusually beautiful crown;
- variety Waldbrunn - a dwarf that looks good on rocky hills;
- Glauka Pendula and its variations are a weeping form.
All of them are very beautiful, and compared to other spruces, they are quite undemanding to care for.
Spruce prickly Arizona
The variety at a young age has an asymmetrical crown, adding 8 cm in height and 10 cm in width. Over time, the prickly spruce Arizona Kaibab grows faster, the crown becomes narrow-conical, with dense branches. By the age of 10, it reaches only 80 cm, but an adult tree stretches up to 10 m with a width of 3 m.
The needles are sharp, hard, curved with a sickle, dense, 10-12 mm long. The color in the sun is blue, if the tree is planted in the shade, the needles will change color to green.
Sometimes in the descriptions and in the photo of the prickly spruce Arizona there are discrepancies. One gets the impression that the authors filmed different varieties of conifers. But this is just a feature of the Arizona spruce - in young plants, the needles can be green, but the older the tree becomes, the more clearly the blue color appears.
Spruce pungens Misty Blue
The variety of prickly spruce Misty Blue (Blue Mist) belongs to the Glauka series, combining forms with a pronounced blue color of the needles. It grows rather big - by the age of 10 it can reach 4 m, and an adult tree stretches by 10-12 m with a width of 4-5 m.
Misty Blue is a slender, neat tree with a regular conical crown and beautiful blue needles with a waxy bloom. The color of the needles becomes more intense with age, the length is 2-3 cm.
Seedlings of the same age grown in the same nursery are very similar to each other - this is a feature of the variety. If you need to plant an avenue of conifers, Misty Blue is perfect - you practically don't have to cut the trees to give them a uniform shape.
Spruce prickly Glauka Compact
The slow-growing forms include the Glauka Compact cultivar. It is very similar to Glauka Globoza, only small: an adult tree (after 30 years) reaches a height of 5 m.
It is distinguished by a conical crown of regular shape, a tiered arrangement of branches and bright blue hard needles 2-3 cm long. The color of the needles is fully manifested only in the sun, in partial shade it becomes dull.
Spruce pungens Majestic Blue
When describing the Canadian spruce Majestic Blue, first of all, it should be noted that, unlike other varieties of the species, the color of its needles changes throughout the season. In spring it is almost white, and by autumn it becomes bluish-blue. An adult tree reaches a height of 15 m with a crown diameter of 5 m. During the growing season, it grows 15-20 cm.
The needles are prickly, hard, with a steel waxy coating, up to 3 cm long.Oval cones 6-15 cm long often appear at the ends of the branches of mature trees.
This variety reproduces well by seeds, gives few attacks (rejects) of inappropriate color, but is expensive due to high demand.
Fir-tree prickly Glauka Prostrata
Perhaps this is the most unusual variety. It is impossible to name its height. If a tree is constantly tied to a support, it will grow like a weeping spruce with a narrow-pyramidal crown up to 30 m. But by giving it freedom, you can get a beautiful ground cover, which covers an ever larger area every year.
By using pruning, an almost horizontal prickly carpet is obtained from Glauk Prostrata. Without outside interference, it will take on a fantastic shape - the branches either rise above the ground and stick out, then spread, take root, and grow further.
The needles are dense, hard and sharp, up to 1.5 cm long, blue. Young cones are colored crimson. The maximum decorative effect can be achieved only by planting a tree in a sunny place.
Conclusion
Spruce Prickly combines high decorativeness with relative ease of care, which is rare among conifers. Its popularity is well deserved, especially since it can grow in cold climates and tolerates urban conditions better than other species.
