07 June 2018

In praise of blue spruce


We have several spruce in our yard, and I'm always impressed each year when the blue spruce put out their new growth in that light-blue or teal-bluegreen color (not sure how to name the shade), which contrasts so nicely with other garden plants in terms of color (and texture).  The older needles in the proximal parts of the branches revert to a more conventional green; there probably is some survival advantage to the blue hue, but I don't know what it is.

In the winter the large spruce hold the snow beautifully:

4 comments:

  1. We had a beautiful big blue spruce in the backyard of the house I grew up in. And now I miss that house. Great post though!

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  2. The shade could be "glaucous" perhaps?

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  3. I have gathered some young spruce tips and tomorrow will be doing a home brew with 6 oz added 15 min to the end of the boil... my fathers day activity

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