Colorado Blue Spruce 'Glauca Pendula'

Colorado spruce 'Glauca Pendula' (Picea pungens 'Glauca Pendula') is a living blue sculpture. The branches fall in one unbroken cascade, the sickle-curved needles glow a bright silvery-blue, and the leading shoots turn whimsically upwards at an angle. Because of those quirks, no two plants ever look quite the same.

Plant it on its own where it will be seen from every side: by the entrance, above a pond, on the edge of a retaining wall where the branches fall downwards. It grows strongly, more than 30 cm a year, so within ten years you have a large, conspicuous specimen. Its height is set by how you tie it in - here the gardener leads the crown, not the plant.

Key characteristics:

• What makes it special: The shape of this spruce is the gardener's doing: tie the stem higher and the cascade rises; leave it loose and the branches spread as a blue carpet.
• Dimensions: At 10 years over 4 m tall and over 4 m wide.
• Hardiness: Hardy down to -45 °C (USDA zone 2).
• Light: Full sun suits it best - that is where the blue tone is brightest; light shade is also allowed.
• Soil: Happily takes ordinary acid, moderately moist, well-drained soil, and grows even better on a fertile one.
• Watering: Moderate watering; in the first years keep the soil evenly moist and never let it dry out.
• Care: It needs support: tie the trunk in - without shaping the shoots lie down and the plant spreads along the ground.
• Landscape use: A sculptural specimen: by an entrance, a pond or a retaining wall, where the cascade of branches shows from every side.
• Origin: This weeping form was selected as a seedling in the late 19th century at the Koster & Co. nursery in Boskoop, the Netherlands.