FacebookTwitter

Tree Walk – Montgomery Blue Spruce

//Tree Walk – Montgomery Blue Spruce
Tree Walk – Montgomery Blue Spruce 2022-09-19T22:08:49+00:00

Montgomery Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens ‘Montgomery’)

Identifying Features

Plant Family: Pinaceae

Leaf: evergreen, needles surround the stem but more densely so above than below, needles rigid and incurved, silver-blue in color

Twig and Bud: twig stout, orange-brown, buds are broadly conical to nearly spherical, blunt and yellow-brown

Flower, Fruit and Seed: seed cones oblong, cylindrical and short-stalked, 2-4 inches long, green with violet bloom when young, becoming pale brown when ripe

Bark: gray, deeply grooved, forms thick scales

Shape and Mature Height: dense, broad shape, 3-4 feet at maturity

Garden Value and Considerations

Best grown in rich, slightly acidic, moist, well-drained soils.  Provide full sun to part shade, though full sun provides best foliage color.  The silver-blue needles provide year-round interest.

Notes

This cultivar is named for Col. R. H. Montgomery, a dedicated plant collector and co-founder of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who donated a large conifer collection to the New York Botanical Garden.