Picea pungens Oldenburg - Blue spruce

Picea pungens 'Oldenburg' is a cultivar of Blue Spruce with a beautiful, pyramid-shaped, very vertical form and vigorous growth. It forms a medium-sized tree with a regular crown and a very straight central axis. Its shiny, superb steel blue needles contrast beautifully with its dark green inner needles. It thrives everywhere, as long as it is in the sun, in well-drained soil, even occasionally dry, even in limestone soil. 

Native to the western coast of the United States, and the Rocky Mountains of North America, up to Canada, Picea pungens also known as Colorado Blue Spruce or Blue Spruce is a very hardy evergreen conifer belonging to the Pine family. In its natural environment, it grows slowly and has an elegant and very regular conical habit, with very tiered horizontal branches. This tree can reach a height of 25 to 40 m and tolerates limestone soils and some drought.

The 'Oldenburg' variety, derived from this species, is a selection by J. D. Zu Jeddeloh from around 1970. It forms a medium-sized tree and reaches 12 to 15 m in height with a width of 5 to 8 m at maturity. It is distinguished by a regular conical habit, with a surprisingly straight central axis, continuing up to the top in young specimens. Its scaly bark, ranging from brown-grey to grey-black, is deeply fissured. It produces short and thick branches, quite tiered, covered with very short and sharp needles, arranged in clearly spaced brushes, radially around the branches. Its young spring shoots are a very intense light blue, frosted with silver. Its elongated cylindrical, 6 to 10 cm long cones, are light brown.

The 'Oldenburg' Blue Spruce is suitable for medium to large gardens, planted alone to enjoy its superb silhouette or at the back of a wooded or shrubby bed. It harmonises perfectly with rocks in the garden. It can be accompanied by other conifers with a columnar or rounded habit to play on contrasts, essential in the creation of contemporary gardens that enhance the aesthetics of shapes, silhouettes and textures rather than blooms. Conifers, with their constancy, can structure a space in a lasting way, delimit paths, border terraces and advantageously replace trimmed boxwoods or hollies with their marked presence. They associate well with flowering shrubs, allowing for a subtle play on volumes and colours.