Plant: Dwarf Alberta Spruce
Spruce · Picea glauca 'Conica'
Size: 3 gal
Light
Mature size
More about this plant
Dwarf Alberta spruce is a very slow growing dwarf conifer that holds a dense, tight, erect pyramid of soft light green to blue green needles about half an inch long that are aromatic when crushed. It reaches roughly 3 to 4 feet in ten years and only about 10 to 13 feet tall by 7 to 10 feet wide after several decades. It wants full sun to partial shade and a well drained but moist clay, loam or sandy soil, acid through neutral. Spider mites are its most serious problem, particularly on plants stressed by heat. It is a container, foundation and specimen plant rather than a tree.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 13 ft tall and 10 ft wide
- Hardy in USDA zones 3-6
- Evergreen foliage
Plant description
Dwarf Alberta spruce is a very slow growing dwarf conifer that holds a dense, tight, erect pyramid of soft light green to blue green needles about half an inch long that are aromatic when crushed. It reaches roughly 3 to 4 feet in ten years and only about 10 to 13 feet tall by 7 to 10 feet wide after several decades. It wants full sun to partial shade and a well drained but moist clay, loam or sandy soil, acid through neutral. Spider mites are its most serious problem, particularly on plants stressed by heat. It is a container, foundation and specimen plant rather than a tree.
- Flowers
- Non-flowering.
- Foliage
- Soft, thin, bright light green to blue green needles about half an inch long, densely set on the twigs and aromatic when crushed.
- Fruit
- Very small cones are rarely produced.
- Bark & stems
- The trunk is hidden by foliage, but it appears as thin brownish-gray scales at maturity.
- Pruning
- If a prominent shoot with thicker stems and larger foliage appears, it should be pruned from the shrub.
- Native range
- Found as a wild sport in Alberta, Canada in 1904
