A member of the Pinaceae family , the aristocratical spruce is appreciate as both a Christmas tree and a windbreak specimen . Well - conform to the rugged conditions of the mountains , this Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree enjoy a important life twain if planted in the proper environment . However , ram it to grow in an area it is not suited for will raise less than optimum resultant .

Life Span

The blue spruce(Picea pungens ) , also lie with as Colorado blue spruce or silver spruce , is capable of living in surfeit of 200 years , according to Northern State University in South Dakota . However , if it is planted in a geographical venue outside of its aboriginal chain of mountains , the life span may be greatly reduced . The University of Minnesota Extension Service advise that puritanical spruces engraft in the bitter frigidity of Minnesota will live less than 30 years .

Native Habitat

The slopes of the Rocky Mountains and forests of the western U.S. are the native habitat of the down in the mouth spruce . The Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree does not thrive in hot , humid , summertime weather condition or in areas with dry , wintertime steer and less snowfall than is normal in the typically snow - oppressed quite a little landscape painting . The blue spruce also demands the thin and stony filth it is used to in mountainous terrain . Places with heavy soils traverse the tree its power to blow necessary moisture from the ground .

Growth Rate

The Colorado racy spruce is sizable and will achieve its best biography duo in its native altitude of between 6,000 and 9,000 feet . It call for full fair weather and is considered an ideal specimen in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 4a through 7b . The tree normally grows less than 12 inch annually although that rate may be wearisome if it has suffered the stress of being transplanted . It achieves a mature meridian of between 30 and 50 feet in the landscape and 75 foot in the wild .

Disease and Pests

Fungal diseases like cytospora canker , needle cast disease and a kind of rusting disease afflict the naughty spruce . None are peculiarly lethal , but how long a blue spruce liveliness when infested with these disease depend on whether the fungal disorder are brought under ascendancy within the twain of a few years . Otherwise , the tree will be weakened from the continued attack and may eventually die . impertinence - form insects and the spruce needle miner regularly feed on the foliage of the tree .

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