Baker's Colorado Blue Spruce

Colorado Blue Spruce is one of the best-looking evergreen accent trees, but not everyone has enough room for its soaring height. Try compact Baker's Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens ‘Bakeri’), as a fantastic option for today's smaller yards. Everyone loves having a Blue Spruce in their yard and it should be this improved variety.

You’ll get the geometric precision and bold blue color you crave. With a perfect pyramid shape, this dwarf Blue Spruce is “right-sized” to fit even in narrow spaces. Baker’s Blue even makes the perfect living Christmas Tree to decorate each year.

Baker’s Blue Spruce tree features longer blue needles and a superior, rich, blue color. Gorgeous, silvery-blue needles give a wonderfully cool visual relief, and partners well with many other plants.

Our expert growers ensure that each plant has the identical color and form. Use several of them to create a formal focal point, or plant a single tree as a magnificent specimen accent. With symmetrically tiered branches and a strong profile, Baker’s Blue brings a critical sense of structure to your landscape design.

You’ll love this tree, and you won’t be the only one. Spruce trees provide wonderful shelter for local songbirds to nest in.

New growth in spring emerges with the best blue color. You’ll soon see the famous powdery “Colorado Blue” glaucous coating develop as the needles mature. The silvery-blue color holds really well all year-long.

Baker’s Blue Spruce grows naturally into a dense and formal pyramidal form with very limited pruning needs. Don’t let its beautiful form fool you. This is a handsome, rugged, native tree and grows well in a wide range of climates. These trees can live up to 600 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forestry Service.

It easily tolerates urban pollution, road salts, and Oceanside salt spray. You can even keep it as a “Thriller” in a large container for many years.

As you can imagine, Baker’s Colorado Blue Spruce trees are in high demand. Please order yours now if you see them in stock, as they are at a high risk of selling out.

How to Use Baker’s Colorado Blue Spruce in the Landscape

Versatile Baker’s Blue is the ideal tree for both formal and informal landscapes. Its disease and pest free and requires no pruning, so makes a great choice for commercial plantings. Baker’s Blue Spruce is the perfect formal specimen for any yard.

It becomes the perfect living Christmas tree! Grow it at the corner of your house to anchor your foundation planting. It will be ready to be adorned for the Holidays each year.

Or, why not try growing it in an exterior container to enjoy as a very special accent? It will be very happy for several years, and can then be planted out in the yard or donated to a school or jealous neighbor. Place one on either side of your entryway, or use a series along the back of your patio.

Baker’s Blue is a fantastic plant to use as a screen without taking up your whole yard. Try one in the lawn to block the view into a window. Or, plant them strategically near the patio, in a side yard or along the back fence to create privacy your whole family will enjoy.

In a privacy application, we advise purchasing the largest container size we have in stock. You’ll gain a “jump start” of several extra years of development. Rest assured, your new trees have had expert care that whole time.

Create a diverse privacy planting along the north side of your pool deck with other evergreen trees. Use a staggered planting plan and include several varieties such as columnar Blue Arrow Juniper or a shaggy Emerald Green Arborvitae. Pop in some flowering Jane Magnolias or Crape Myrtles for color. You’ll love the look!

Carefree Baker’s Blue also makes a gorgeous focal point. Simply plant an odd number of trees 8 - 15 feet apart on center for the best results. You’ll measure from the center of one to the center of the next.

Keep 15 feet between the trees if you want to see individual plants, or 8 feet for a solid screen. Vary the spacing and plant along a gently curving zig-zag to create informal groupings for a naturalized planting in open, sunny areas.

Leave room for a hammock stand and bird feeders. Add bright, bold perennials for butterflies. Use on the sunny side of larger evergreen trees to boost the bright color. They can work beautifully in windbreaks and shelterbelts as they are hardy and tolerate open and windy locations.

This is an easy tree to incorporate with other plants in a mixed planting. Try Baker’s Blue as a beautiful backdrop foil for small flowering White Dogwood trees, or shrubs with dark foliage, such as First Editions® Amber Jubilee™ Ninebark, or the bold colored winter branches of Bailey Red Twigged Dogwood. Blue Spruce trees provide an upright contrast for free flowing Ornamental Grasses. Or, add smaller round Spruce shrubs at its feet for an easy care Zen Garden.

#ProPlantTips for Care

These beautiful trees are native to the Southwestern United States from Colorado to Utah. Baker’s Blue Spruce is a very compact variety with a narrow pyramidal base. This is an extremely hardy tree and shows tolerance of many different soil types, including challenging alkaline and clay soils.

For best results, select a location with full sun a soil that drains well. They tolerate no standing water, so plant in a raised mound heaped 18 inches high if you need to improve drainage.

Give a moderate amount of water on a regular basis. After they are established, Baker’s Blue Spruce can tolerate drought and are recommended on many drought or xeriscape lists, but we recommend protecting your investment with supplemental water as needed.

Mulch to keep roots cool in the hot summer. Avoid shaded locations, as this will affect the depth of the blue and result in fewer needles or bare limbs.

Container grown plants should be planted in a large container at least 16 inches wide. They can happily live in the same container for about 4 to 5 years before needing to be transplanted to a larger container or planted into the landscape.

Use a good quality planting mix and let the tree grow into it. Feed containerized trees 3 times a year with a regular fertilizer like Dr. Earth Organic and Natural Premium Fertilizer in spring, mid-summer and fall. Be careful not to overwater.

Pruning is seldom needed, but your tree can be snipped at any time for light correction of shape. It is not advisable to remove the bottom branches of Spruce trees. Much better to plan ahead and give plenty of room to achieve the full height and spread listed on the Plant Highlights.

Always keep the bottom branches on the tree for the most attractive look. Remove grass underneath to protect bottom branches from lawnmower damage.

Water the soil and not the foliage, they do not like to be wet and will not tolerate saturated soil. Open windy areas with good air circulation keeps the plants much happier than do wet or enclosed areas.

We know you’ll grow to adore your Baker’s Colorado Blue Spruce trees. Order these very special, compact, native trees from Nature Hills today!