This is the name of a coniferous tree native to North America. Spruce, like most conifers, is well adapted to life in the shade, and drought is not an obstacle for it. It grows on loamy and sandy loam soils, reaches a maximum height of 40 meters (cultivated - 25), lives for almost 100 years. This tree can be planted with cuttings and seeds.
The spruce genus consists of many representatives, but the silvery herringbone is the slender and most beautiful of all. In addition, it is unpretentious, perfectly tolerates severe frosts and air pollution, and is resistant to snow drifts. With these qualities, she far surpasses all her "relatives". In the wild, Christmas trees live alone and in small groups. Most often found along rivers and on the northern mountain slopes of North America (in the western regions). Sometimes mountains are their habitat (height - 2-3 thousand m above sea level). The evergreen prickly silver spruce tree is considered one of the most valuable species, it is equally beautiful at any time of the year.
Description of the prickly silver spruce
The silvery spruce has a symmetrical, pyramidal (cone-shaped) slender crown with a diameter of 6 to 8 meters. Flat branches (paws) on it are densely arranged, in horizontal tiers, their usual state is low down (the older the tree, the lower). Crown color - gray-blue. The most beautiful and popular are the varieties with the highest content of "silver" in the color of the needles. Certainly a bluer shade in cultivated trees (thanks to constant selection). It is interesting that when the shoots stop growing, the intensity of the gray-blue tint decreases, the needles acquire the usual green color.
The shade of young needles is pale green with a light white bloom. 3-centimeter sharp needle-shaped needles have 4 edges at the base. The trunk of a silvery herringbone with brown-gray bark resembles a straight column, its diameter is about 1 meter. Occasionally there is a 2 or 3 stem tree. The older the tree, the thicker its bark (about 3 cm). The old tree is also different in that its bark is roughly flaky. As for the spruce shoots, they are short, naked, strong, their color is orange-brown, turning into gray-brown with age. The shape of the hanging cones located at the very top of the crown is cylindrical. At first they are green, but when ripe, they acquire a chestnut brown color with a shine. At the edges, the cones are overgrown with jagged scales. The spruce grows annually in growth from 12 to 15 cm.
Planting and caring for a silver spruce
Spruce will grow best in a slightly shaded area. For a tree that is not too whimsical to the soil, it will be more pleasant to have a fertile soil, in which the formation of deeper and stronger roots is logical. Attention! When transplanting a plant, do not overdry the root system, compact and trample the soil! Spruce is afraid of nearby groundwater, therefore, if there are any, you cannot do without "soft" drainage (crushed stone and geotextiles in the soil). The neck of the root should be at ground level. The most acceptable acidity for the soil is 5-4.5.
As already mentioned, a silvery herringbone is planted with both seeds and cuttings.The planting hole should contain turf (2 parts), peat (1 part) and sand (1 part). It would be nice to add nitroammophoska (100 grams) to the soil. If the summer is hot and dry, young trees are watered once a week - a bucket of water for each plant. Silver spruce, unlike ordinary spruce, tolerates drought better. The soil under the seedlings is loosened shallowly - 5-7 cm is enough; when mulching, 5-6 cm of a peat layer is applied, which is then mixed with the soil, but not removed.
Only dry, broken and diseased branches are cut off. Trees used for hedges need radical pruning. Adults ate winter-hardy, but the needles of young animals need to be protected from late autumn and early spring frosts. The first 2 after planting a year for the winter, the soil under the trees is mulched with sawdust (6-8 cm layer) or peat, adult trees do not need this.
Varieties of silver spruce
If the territory of the estate or private household is small, it will not be good for wild trees, but for varietal Christmas trees, varied in color, height and shape of needles. Blue-gray and silver-gray varieties are very popular among gardeners.
The most famous - prickly blue spruce... It is high (about 10 m) and has a beautiful conical crown. The needles of this tree are tough, their color is blue-green to silver. With growing up, the needles acquire a bluer tint. Blue spruce is planted in single specimens; it is not picky about soil and moisture. Very often it is she who acts as a New Year's symbol.
Koster - a common variety of spruce with silver-blue needles. The crown is conical, the height of the tree is approximately 7 meters.
The lightest needles in the variety Hoopsii... Its unique feature: in order to get a beautifully shaped crown, in the first years, a young tree is necessarily tied up.
The spherical 2-meter Christmas trees are very beautiful. There are dwarf and ground cover forms of silver spruce. The dwarf spruce is a tree with blue needles. It is no more than a meter tall, with a dense crown. There is a blue pillow-shaped spruce. Its height is only 50 cm, and its width is 70 cm. The young grows up crimson cones, which are located at the ends of the shoots. Such spruces look great alone and in different landscape landscapes (in rockeries, on alpine hills, etc.)
Where does the silvery spruce grow?
A silvery beauty from North America. This tree is a symbol of the states of Colorado and Utah (USA). It tolerates pruning well, making the crown thicker. Therefore, the herringbone often acts as a hedge. To create beautiful landscapes, the use of its decorative forms is suitable. Landscape designers are especially fond of the gray-gray form, which is familiar to us as silver (blue). It was bred from a specific population of an initial region in its natural range. There it coexists with bluish-green and silvery-green forms. This type is widely used for landscaping the territories of industrial enterprises.
At the age of 30-40, the silvery spruce enters the time of its highest flowering. At this age, it has the most intense color. Herringbone is not only a beautiful, but also a very useful tree. The prickly beauty, for example, serves beauticians: they often use the substance hydrolat, which is the water-containing part collected after decanting from the distillation apparatus. This powerful antiseptic and wound-healing agent is recommended for the care of any type of skin (combination and oily skin as well).
I have a blue silver spruce growing for 20 years, very beautiful, 10 m tall, lush, Summer was very hot and dry, in September I noticed that some branches sagged, and a month later I was horrified, lifted the branches, they turned yellow, a lot, I considered and found a striped bug with a narrow black nose and a round transparent body, the branches are sticky and black, and the needles are crumbling. How to save it, how to treat it?