Spruce Black Hills #10

This delightful, easy care evergreen is native to some of the coldest regions of North America. Given well-drained soil and a spot in full sun, the Black Hills Spruce (Picea glauca ‘Densata’ (var. densata) provides a low maintenance privacy screen. It works to give structure to your landscape design all year long.

Black Hills Spruce evergreen tree grows into a natural cone shape. It’s absolutely charming with an attractive compact habit and vibrant, dark green foliage with a bluish-gray overcast.

You'll never have to prune it. It develops into a wonderful pyramidal accent for either front or back yard landscaping.

Decorate this living Christmas Tree for the holidays every year. Birds love to roost in it for winter cover.

Black Hills Spruce trees are popular, ornamental evergreen conifers. They are ideal for use as windbreaks, privacy screens and accent plantings in your yard.

With dense foliage, this tree is great for privacy. You'll also appreciate how it lends life to your dull, winter landscape.

A truly cold-adapted tree, Black Hills Spruce is resistant to winter injury and performs well, regardless of harsh winter conditions. As well, this tree is very long-lived. In fact, some Black Hills Spruce have lived 150 to 350 years!

Black Hills is an excellent variety of White Spruce with short, pointed needles. They make premier specimen plants and work well in windbreaks and shelterbelts.

How to Use Black Hills Spruce in the Landscape

Black Hills Spruce make fantastic specimen plants in a lawn or anchoring a foundation planting. A refined, pyramidal form and uniform shape gives it a very formal character in any garden design application.

Black Hills is quite versatile. It tolerates road salt and drought, once established. It is a great evergreen for windbreaks and helps absorb sound. Black Hills Spruce are often used in mixed plantings with taller trees in the background.

Include other evergreen shrubs in front and be sure to use deciduous trees and shrubs in the planting design. The Black Hills Spruce acts as a perfect supporting actor for just about any partner plant. Lilacs, Red Twigged Dogwoods, Eastern Redbud, Serviceberry, or ornamental Red Buckeye can all be added to add fragrance, color and style.

Always leave the bottom branches on your evergreens on your plants to screen out and block the wind and snow right down to the ground. People have a tendency to want to cut off the bottom branches as they get larger, but you should do just the opposite.

For the best results, leave them to branch to the ground. Simply remove more lawn area and mulch beneath the plants.

We recommend a planting design that give a more natural look to this beautiful tree. To achieve this, you'll avoid planting them in straight rows that are evenly spaced.

Instead, use a freeform pattern. Vary the spacing between each one between 15 feet apart, all the way down to 6 feet apart if you want them to touch. Measure the trees from trunk to trunk.

Stagger the rows to help them look like nature put them there and not you. You'll be glad you left room to include a pathway, bench or hammock. Create a cool summer retreat in the shade of the green to blue-green needles.

For a fantastic informal drift, use a long irregular oval planting design. At the ends, plant 1 tree and increase it to 3 trees wide or more. This makes a wonderful view out near the perimeter of your property. Add Chickasaw Plum or Nanking Cherry trees in front to give a welcome layer of gorgeous spring bloom.

#ProPlantTips for Care

For the best performance, ensure your soils is well-drained. If you see puddles that remain after a rainfall in your selected spot, you'll need to mound up.

Why not create a raised soil berm and plant Black Hills Spruce directly into it? You'll gain an instant head start on height, privacy and create visual interest very easily.

To establish young trees, plan to give an even amount of moderate water. Once the trees age and establish in your soil, they will be tolerant to all but the most extended droughts.

In times of extreme summer heat, or if the fall doesn't receive rainfall - you'll want to provide supplemental water for these lovely workhorses.

Usually no pruning is necessary. If second leader develops, or you want to shorten up the growth, prune in spring. You'll want to finish any minor pruning task before new growth starts.