{"id":6819,"date":"2015-12-07T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=6819"},"modified":"2015-12-07T11:40:47","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T16:40:47","slug":"norway-spruce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/12\/07\/norway-spruce\/","title":{"rendered":"Widely Planted Norway Spruce"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Norway<\/a>

Norway spruce (Picea abies)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Norway<\/a>

Norway Spruce cones<\/p><\/div>\n

Norway spruce (Picea abies<\/em>) is a large pyramidal evergreen conifer. It is native to the mountains of northern and central Europe where it\u00a0often matures to 100 feet or more in height. In the cool temperate areas of the U.S. and Canada, Norway spruce is widely planted, typically reaching 50 to 80 feet\u00a0tall at maturity\u00a0(USDA hardiness zones 2 to 7-a).<\/p>\n

Norway spruce prefers a moist, mildly acidic, well-drained soil and in full sun. The species thrives in the mountains of northeast Tennessee and southwest North Carolina (zone 6 and 7-a), but fails\u00a0in middle TN and eastern NC (7-b).<\/p>\n

Annual growth rate is rapid.\u00a0Main branches\u00a0are turned slightly upright\u00a0on the ends and secondary branches are drooping (pendulous),\u00a0more apparent\u00a0on mature trees. Branches are clad with four-sided\u00a0medium green needles that are spirally arranged along branches. Needles are soft to grip. It is often mistaken for Colorado spruce (P. pungens<\/em>), whose bluish green needles are right angled and sharp to the touch. Cylindrical seed bearing cones, 5 – 9 inches long, are pendulous. Sticky resin frequently coats the bark of trunk and main branches.<\/p>\n

Norway spruce is not troubled by serious insect or disease problems\u00a0when properly sited. Several species of mites may plague individual spruce trees from time to time. Deer usually stay away from most needle conifers. Birds make use\u00a0of the layered branches\u00a0for shelter from wind and cold and as a haven from predators.<\/p>\n

Norway spruce is\u00a0commonly planted in parks, large properties, and woodland areas. It is also utilized as a tall privacy screen, windbreak, or for erosion control. As many as 150 tree and shrub\u00a0cultivars of Norway spruce are\u00a0available. Dwarf, upright and weeping forms are\u00a0set before building\u00a0foundations and rock garden plantings. It is used as a cut Christmas tree, but\u00a0needle retention is short-lived.<\/p>\n

\"Mature<\/a>

Mature spruce at Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norway spruce (Picea abies) is a large pyramidal evergreen conifer. It is native to the mountains of northern and central Europe where it\u00a0often matures to 100 feet or more in height. In the cool temperate areas of the U.S. and Canada, Norway spruce is widely planted, typically reaching 50 to 80 feet\u00a0tall at maturity\u00a0(USDA hardiness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,977,144,645,674,806,800,742,843,936,1059,951,729,777,1210,630,831,7,655,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6819"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8432,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819\/revisions\/8432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}