Creeping Blue Spruce

Everyone loves the blue Colorado spruce, with its hedgehog needles of brilliant silver-blue. Often people plant just the big, upright forms, which usually grow too large. But there are many different varieties of this popular tree, and one of the most unusual and striking is the Creeping Blue spruce. This is a very variable plant, creeping across the ground and cascading over walls in an irregular fashion, and also often sending up short, twisted, upright shoots as well. It is probably best left to just do its own thing, and surprise you with its eccentricity, but you can also tame it a little, trimming it to be low and spreading, or creating a taller, more condensed mound if you want to. Left alone it will grow at least 8 feet wide, but stay just a foot or two tall. It is just as tough and hardy as its parent, and a great choice in cold zones. Grow it in the foreground of a bed, or in a rock garden. It would be a great choice for a sunny slope, or for spilling over a wall or the levels of retaining walls.

• Irregular, spreading plant, often with some more upright sections
• Bold silver-blue needles are brightest in spring and through winter
• Very tolerant of both winter cold and summer dry periods
• Could be trained to grow flatter, or more mounding
• A great choice for banks and slopes, or in terracing or at the top of a wall

Grow your Creeping Blue Spruce in full sun if you want the best needle colors. It is hardy even in zone 2 and thrives in all cold to cool zones, but doesn’t enjoy hot, humid summers. Plant it in any well-drained soil, from rocky sands to heavy clay, just as long as the soil isn’t wet all the time. Once established it is very drought tolerant, and needs very little attention to do well. Deer don’t eat it, and it normally has no important pests or diseases. If you want to trim or prune it (although that isn’t necessary to keep it low), do it in late spring, once the new stems have matured. Never cut back to branches that have no needles – they won’t resprout.