Alberta Blue Dwarf Alberta Spruce

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Watering can be reduced after establishment. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring. Pruning time: winter.

This superior evergreen with its dense conical form is one of the best for formal gardens. Use in conjunction with short sheared hedges and parterres. Try two to flank a fountain, entry door, gateway or classical sculpture. Incorporate into foundation planting for welcome verticals between windows with geometry that is stunning under snow. Combine with other evergreens in shrub borders for diversity of form and color and with flowering and colored foliage shrubs. In pots on porch or patio they add Old World charm or traditional Colonial character.

Create a native woodland garden with Snowberry, Hyssop, Dogwood, and Potentilla, or a formal European look with Boxwood, Euonymus and the silver foliage of Fescue, Lavender, and Dead Nettle. The silvery blue foliage is always complemented by purple foliage plants like Ninebark, Barberry, and Smoke Tree.

This conifer is native to a number of states adjacent to the Canadian border, through Canada into Alaska. The trouble with blue-needled Dwarf Albert Spruce is that they unpredictably revert back to green. 'Haal' is the first truly stable variety, discovered in 1976 by Isaac Boss, owner of Hagthorne Cottage Nurseries in Surrey, England. The plant was a sport of Picea glauca 'Conica' and patented in 1987, the same year Isaac passed away. Alberta spruce is grown as Christmas trees and fresh cut greens used in holiday decorating. Oils have some commercial value. Native Americans used its gum as a salve and brewed the resin into medicinal drink for childbirth and other ailments.