This coniferous tree has an upright trunk with grey-brown scaly bark and horizontal branching that forms a conical to columnar habit with an open crown. It has blue-green needle-like leaves and produces ovoid grey-brown cones. 

Hardiness zones 3 to 5 

Picea mariana is naturally found  in North America from Alaska to Canada and extending south to Wisconsin and the mountains of Virginia growing in cold sphagnum bogs or swamps and drier mountain slopes to an altitude of 1,100m (3,500ft). 

It can form pure stands or is mixed with other coniferous species and prefers an open sunny position with moderately fertile well drained alluvial soils and is frost tolerant but drought and air pollution tender.  

Black Spruce is grown for its conical habit and its bluish foliage. It is planted in cool mountain gardens as a specimen or used around ponds or bogs. It establishes in 5 to 7 years and forms a shallow root system. This cold climate tree is planted in large gardens as a specimen or used in woodland settings and under cultivation the tree is smaller and forms a more conical habit. ID 3053

Picea (pi-SEE-ah) mariana (mar-E-a’na)

Pinaceae (py-NAY-see-ee)
Larches, spruces, pines, firs, hemlocks and cedars