Poodle Tier Dwarf Alberta Spruce

Picea glauca

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 3a-8a Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Coniferous Evergreen Tree

Height at Maturity: 4-8′ depending on pruning

Width at Maturity: 1-2′ depending on pruning
Spacing: 4′

Growth Habit / Form: Dense, Pyramidal, Upright – Spiral Form must be maintained

Growth Rate: Slow

Foliage Color: Blue-Green

Fragrant Foliage: Yes

Sun Needs: Full Sun or Mostly Sun, Afternoon Shade or Filtered Sun in Zones 7b and 8a

Water Needs: Average, low when established

Soil Type: Clay, Loam, Sand, Silt

Soil Drainage: Well Drained

Soil pH: 6.0 – 7.5

Maintenance / Care: Very Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Severe Cold, Deer – more info, Disease, Drought, Insect

Description

The Dwarf Alberta Spruce is prized for its compact pyramidal growth habit and small stature. The Poodle Tier Dwarf Alberta Spruce is perhaps the slowest growing, and therefore requires the least maintenance of all live poodle tier topiary plants. One good trimming a year should be ample. Its poodle tier form adds year round structure to any garden, and just imagine how amazing it will look when you decorate it with lights for the holidays!

Landscape & Garden Uses

The Poodle Tier Dwarf Alberta Spruce is ideal for use as a vertical accent, in groupings, or in rows in landscape borders. A fine accent in home foundation plantings where it can be useful to frame an entryway, soften corners, or fill space between windows. Its smaller size and slow rate of growth lends well to smaller garden spaces and container gardens. A fine addition to conifer gardens and the Xeriscape (low water needs).

Suggested Spacing: 6 feet apart for space between plants

Growing Preferences

The Dwarf Alberta Spruce is easy to grow in a damp to moist but well-drained soil of average fertility. As with so many other conifers, constantly soggy or wet soils can be problematic; leading to root rot or other harmful plant diseases. So make sure to plant this one in well-drained soil, whether in the ground or in pots. Choose a container with a drainage hole(s) and use a quality potting soil or potting mix, or a 50/50 mix thereof. It grows best in full sun however in Zones 7b and 8a in the south it will prefer some shade or filtered sun during the middle of the afternoon. Once established water needs are quite low when growing in the ground. In pots, soil moisture will need to be monitored more closely, especially during summer. When the top two inches of soil is dry, provide water.

Note: In Zones 7b and 8a the Alberta Spruce does better in the ground than in pots so that its roots are not exposed to the hot air temperatures and would also prefer some shade or filtered sun in the afternoon hours.

Average Trimming Per Year: One trimming a year after new growth has fully emerged in spring should be ample.

See: How To Trim A Topiary Plant

Note: Find helpful advice from our experts under the Planting & Care tab above on desktop monitors or below on mobile devices.

Tip: Spider mites are known to be a rare, but possible pest of Dwarf Alberta Spruce. The spider mites will crawl on to the plant, begin feeding, and will build visible webs. If small fine textured webs are present, or brown patches of foliage are seen, check for spider mites. Place a white sheet of paper below the effected foliage while tapping the plant with your hand to knock off the spider mites. Don’t worry, spider mites won’t bite! The orange to red colored spider mites will drop to the white paper and will scurry back and forth on the paper. Spray the entire plant with Neem Oil, Malathion, or another insecticide that is labeled for the eradication of spider mites. If not eradicated spider mites will damage and eventually kill a plant.

Plant Long & Prosper!

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