The Blues Weeping Colorado Spruce

The Blues Weeping Colorado Spruce (Picea pungens 'The Blues')

The Blues Weeping Colorado Spruce brings dramatic, cascading form and reliable blue color to the landscape all year. Its flexible structure lets you decide the look, stake it for height and a waterfall effect, or let it creep and drape as a groundcover-like accent. The silver-blue needles add crisp contrast against stone, dark evergreens, and winter skies, keeping beds looking intentional in every season. If you want a conifer with movement and personality that still feels durable and long-lived, this is a strong choice.

Distinctive Features

This selection is prized for its strongly weeping, irregular habit and dense silver-blue needles on sturdy, arching branches. Without staking, it tends to sprawl and cascade along the ground or over walls, while training can create a taller, sculptural silhouette with dramatic draping side branches. Needle color is best in full sun and cool conditions, and the plant offers evergreen structure when the rest of the garden is dormant. A commonly supported size expectation is about 5 to 6 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide in natural form after about 10 years, with final dimensions influenced by training and site.

Growing Conditions

• Sun: Full sun for best color and dense growth.
• Soil: Moist, well-drained soil is ideal, and it adapts best where drainage stays reliable.
• Water: Water regularly during establishment, then water deeply during extended dry periods.
• USDA Zones: Zones 2 to 8.
• Mature Size: About 5 to 6 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide in natural form after about 10 years, with size shaped by training.
• Habit: Strongly weeping, irregular evergreen that can be staked for height or allowed to sprawl and cascade.

Ideal Uses

• Focal Point: Train or let it drape as a focal point over a wall, boulder, or raised bed edge to showcase its cascading blue form year-round.
• Rock Garden: Use among stone to highlight its color and create movement across the planting.
• Foundation Planting: Place where you want evergreen structure and blue contrast without a full-size spruce footprint.
• Slope Coverage: Let it run along a bank to add evergreen texture while helping cover open soil.
• Specimen Accent: Stake and train as a sculptural specimen in a bed where its waterfall branching can be featured.

Low Maintenance Care

• Watering: Deep water through the first one to two growing seasons to build a resilient root system.
• Mulching: Apply mulch over the root zone to conserve moisture and moderate soil temperature, keeping mulch off the trunk.
• Staking: Stake early if height is desired, and adjust ties periodically to guide the main leader.
• Pruning: Prune only to remove dead or damaged growth, and trim lightly to manage spread or refine the outline.
• Fertilizing: Feed lightly in early spring only if growth is weak, using a slow-release fertilizer for evergreens.
• Monitoring: Watch for spider mites during hot, dry weather and address stress early to keep needles looking clean.

Why Choose The Blues Weeping Colorado Spruce?

• Cascading Form: Strong weeping habit adds motion and a distinctive silhouette that stands out in every season.
• Blue Color Contrast: Silver-blue needles provide crisp, reliable color against stone and deep green plantings.
• Trainable Character: Can be staked for height or allowed to sprawl for a more natural, draping look.
• Four-Season Structure: Evergreen branching keeps beds looking finished through winter.
• Durable Performance: A tough conifer choice for sun and well-drained soils once established.

If you want a blue spruce with dramatic movement, The Blues Weeping Colorado Spruce is an excellent fit. Plant it in full sun with good drainage, keep moisture consistent while it establishes, and decide early whether you want a trained specimen or a cascading ground-hugging form. Over time it becomes a memorable evergreen anchor that delivers color and structure year-round.