Picea Pungens Iseli Fastigiate Colorado Spruce

Picea Pungens Iseli Fastigiate (Colorado or Blue Spruce) is a striking conifer with evergreen steel-blue foliage that reaches a slender 75 centimetres in width. It’s an excellent choice for formal Italianate gardens, doorsteps, and adding vertical height without width.

Picea Pungens is the Colorado spruce that’s also called the Blue spruce. It’s native to the Rocky Mountains and found at elevations of 1,800 to 3,300 metres in Colarado, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. The Iseli Fastigiate variety was discovered as a seedling in the Iseli Conifer Nursey, Oregon USA in 1965. The Iseli nursery is famous for its range of Colorado spruce trees including Iseli Foxtail and Iseli Gem. 

This fastigiate conifer is loved for its narrowly upright conical form with rich steel blue needles. It might be slender, but this spruce is so densely packed with needles it’s difficult to see through the branches. With its slim form, striking steel blue needles and ability to fit into almost every garden scheme, it’s no wonder this variety has been popular for decades.
This variety can be used as a living Christmas tree. 

Height And Spread of Picea Pungens Iseli Fastigiate
Colorado Spruce Iseli Fastigiate is naturally slim and reaches no more than 75 centimetres in width by three metres in height.

How Hardy is Picea Pungens Iseli Fastigiate
Colorado Spruce Iseli Fastigiate is as hardy as its parent plant and will cope easily with sub-zero winters in the UK if its roots are well drained. It can cope with some drought once established too.

How To Use Picea Pungens Iseli Fastigiate
The most obvious use of the American fastigiate spruce is adding height without volume in small to medium-sized gardens, but it’s also excellent in rock gardens and Japanese gardens. Its formal shape creates pillars on either side of a doorway or path, but its rich steel blue foliage enhances all types of gardens from modern townhouse courtyards to country cottage acres.
Try planting a row of Colorado Spruce Iseli Fastigiate behind a seating area, or along a fence line, to create privacy from nosy neighbours and a dense windbreak that’s also appreciated by birds and insects.

How To Care For Picea Pungens Iseli Fastigiate
An easy-care, low-maintenance Picea Pungens needs little attention once it’s established.
Choose a spot in full sun with neutral to acidic soil in an exposed or sheltered spot. No pruning is required, but the number one killer of newly planted trees is lack of water, so give it a watering can full each day until you spot new growth. Trees need lots of water to establish their root system no matter how drought-tolerant their mature form is.

A thick layer of acidic mulch (bracken, pine or ericaceous compost) each year will boost its nutrient intake and seal in moisture.