Red Spruce is native up in the Maritime Provinces of southeast Canada, New England, NY, and a line goes down the Appalachians into North ...Read MoreCarolina. It is abundant in the higher elevations of the Great Smokey Mountains. Good for USDA Zones 3 to 7. The needles are rigid but not prickly, 0.5 to 0.7" long. The papery small cones are 1.3 to 2" long and sort of rounded. The inner bark is reddish-brown. It often grows along the edges of streams and bogs or can be upland. It gets about 60 to 70 feet high with a trunk diameter of 1 to 2 feet. It is very similar to the Black Spruce that has shorter needles and cones and can hybridize with it once in a while. The White Spruce is also similar with longer needles and longer cylindrical cones. It is the White Spruce that is planted around occasionally in northern landscapes. The Red Spruce can be grown in landscapes with acid soil. The Morton Arboretum in northeast Illinois has an acceptable specimen planted in its conifer collection surrounded by lawn and is about 15 feet high.I found two good, large specimens on the grounds of a motel in the southern Poconos of Pennsylvania that were wild, but growing close to the lawn area, and a large number at the Thomas Darling Preserve near Blakeslee, PA.
I'm trying to learn about this tree. I wonder why it isn't planted more since it's an East coast native, and whether it isn't advertised...Read More as a hybrid with the more popular conifers. US forestry and wickipedia say it prefers zone 3-4 and high elevations, but among its great qualities: likes gravelly soil, shade tolerant, not as susceptible to pests as Balsam fir. I think I saw a stand of them in Central Massachusetts recently. They weren't pinus strobus, they weren't hemlocks... They can grow tall.
Seems to do alright, but it is not as tolerant of the heat of central NJ as Balsam Fir appears to be. Nice form when young... not sure ho...Read Morew it'll look as an adult.
Red Spruce is native up in the Maritime Provinces of southeast Canada, New England, NY, and a line goes down the Appalachians into North ...Read More
I'm trying to learn about this tree. I wonder why it isn't planted more since it's an East coast native, and whether it isn't advertised...Read More
Seems to do alright, but it is not as tolerant of the heat of central NJ as Balsam Fir appears to be. Nice form when young... not sure ho...Read More
This tree likes well drained soil and it forms a narrow sillhouette.
Cones are small, 1 1/4' to 1 3/16" and fall from the ...Read More