Terry L. Ettinger Horticulture Consulting Services
Meeting The Needs Of Today With A Vision For The Future
Special Topics
Overgrown Evergreens
Spruce (Picea)
Along with our native white pine and eastern hemlock, Norway and Colorado (blue) spruce are the most common large evergreens
in Central New York landscapes. However, both of these spruce grow much too large for all but the largest of properties!
Even the common dwarf
forms such as `Dwarf Alberta,’ `Bird’s Nest’ and `Montgomery’
(at right) tend to grow much larger than many of us
anticipate! As a reminder, spruce are easy to identify as they’re the only evergreen that has needles held individually on the stem
that are square in cross section.
Norway Spruce
- Norway spruce
- (Picea abies)
- More than twelve inches per year
- Sixty to eighty feet tall and twenty to thirty feet wide
- `Little Gem' Norway spruce
- (Picea abies `Little Gem')
- One to two inches per year
- Two to three feet tall and three to five feet wide
- `Bird’s Nest' Norway spruce
- (Picea abies `Nidiformis')
- Two to three inches per year
- Three to six feet tall and eight to ten feet wide
- Weeping Norway spruce
- (Picea abies `Pendula')
- Six to ten inches per year
- Ten to twenty feet tall and ten to twenty feet wide
- Spreading Norway spruce
- (Picea abies `Procumbens')
- Six to ten inches per year
- Six to ten feet tall and ten to twenty feet wide
White Spruce
- White spruce
- (Picea glauca)
- Six to twelve inches per year
- Fifty to sixty feet tall and twenty feet wide
- `Dwarf Alberta' spruce
- (Picea glauca `Conica')
- Two to three inches per year
- Fifteen feet tall and nine to twelve feet wide
Serbian Spruce
- Serbian spruce
- (Picea omorika)
- Six to eight inches per year
- Fifty feet tall and twenty feet wide
- Dwarf Serbian spruce
- (Picea omorika `Nana')
- Three to six inches per year
- Four to six feet tall and six to ten feet wide
Colorado Spruce
- Colorado spruce
- (Picea pungens)
- Six to twelve inches per year
- Forty to fifty feet tall and twenty to thirty feet wide
- `Bakeri' Colorado spruce
- (Picea pungens `Bakeri')
- Six to eight inches per year
- Twenty to thirty feet tall and fifteen to twenty feet wide
- `Fat Albert' Colorado spruce
- (Picea pungens `Fat Albert')
- Six to eight inches per year
- Twenty to thirty feet tall and twenty feet wide
- `Globosa' Colorado spruce
- (Picea pungens `Globosa')
- Three to six inches per year
- Five to eight feet tall and ten feet wide
- Weeping Colorado spruce
- (Picea pungens `Pendula')
- Six to twelve inches per year
- Five to fifteen feet tall and fifteen to thirty feet wide
- `Montgomery' Colorado spruce
- (Picea pungens `Montgomery')
- Three to six inches per year
- Five to ten feet tall and ten to fifteen feet wide