colorado blue spruce

littlemommy1

I made a donation to the Arbor Day Foundation, and they are sending me 10 Colorado Blue Spruce trees. We don't have a huge yard, but I would still like to plant a few. Can they be pruned to be kept small?

TarHeels&Rebels

Can they?  Yes.  Do you want to?  No.

Colorado blue spruce get 30-65' tall and 15-25' wide.  That's huge!  You'll have to fight with each tree several times a year to control its natural habit.  Do you want to do that kind of yardwork?  Life's too short for me for that kind of nonsense.

See if you have friends with land where you could plant them.  Or since they're just itty bitty things smaller than the diameter of a pencil, chuck 'em.

skiergrl

We have two blue spruce that the original owners planted in 1964 they are huge!  45'-50' high and about 20' at the base we have to trim them off the roof and our of the driveway often since the previous owners planted them close the the house.  If you don't have room for them don't plant them.  You could see if a local school or non profit could use a few seedlings? 

smooge

Oh bummer!  I love those and have lots of room to plan them.  I would happily take them off your hands, but I'm a little far away   Maybe I should make a donation...

littlemommy1

I just got a survey in the mail and it said that with a donation you get 10 free trees that will work well in your area. They may give you a different type of tree. Check out the website!

I wish I could send them to you! I would hate hate hate to let trees die!  

opies_girl

I get these every year.  They are very small and about 1/2 will die even if you do what they tell you.  I planted 10 in the ground last fall and ony 3 are still alive.  Next time I plan to plant them in large pots and wait 1-2 years and then plant them in the ground.