Picea pungens

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Colorado blue spruce

The Colorado blue spruce is outstanding in January, especially when contrasted against a blanket of snow or with a layer of frost on its bright, steel-blue needles.
There are many different cultivars from which to choose, but Hoop’s blue spruce (Picea pungens ‘Hoopsii’) is the bluest with stiff horizontal branches densely covered in silvery-blue needles.
Relatively slow-growing, it grows 8 feet (2.4 m) high after 10 years. Its growth can be somewhat irregular for the first few years, but the spectacular bright silver-blue needles easily make up for any perceived flaws.

Other notable cultivars of Picea pungens are ‘Fat Albert’, ‘Moerheim’, ‘Koster’ and ‘Thomsen’. First-class dwarf blue spruces include ‘Globosa’, ‘Glauca Compacta’ and ‘Papoose’.
For a low-growing variety to tuck under maple trees there’s ‘Prostrata’ or ‘Glauca Procumbens’, both of which are ground-hugging and slow-growing.