Common name: Black Hills Spruce
Botanical Name: (Picea glaucavar. densata)
Soil Texture: Grows best on moist loams.
Soil pH - 4.0 to 7.5.
Cold Hardiness: USDA Zone 2.
Water: Fairly drought resistant. Needs additional moisture during droughts.
Light:Full sun.
Flower type: Moneocious, separate male and female strobili.
Flower Color:- Female strobili are greenish to purplish; male are tan to pale red.
Fruit Type : Cone length 1½ to 2 inches long. Cone scales have a rounded, smooth margin; small winged seed.
Fruit Color : Brown cones, tannish seeds.
Growth Habit:- Long stout branches from ground up form a broad pyramidal to conical crown, compact ascending branches, denser growth form than species.
Texture: Medium, summer and winter.
Crown Height : 30 to 60 feet.
Crown Width : 15 to 25 feet.
Bark Color : Ash brown, scaly or flaky bark.
Root System: Shallow, fibrous, and wide spreading.
Conservation/Windbreaks: Medium to tall evergreen for farmstead and field windbreaks.
Wildlife: Browsed by mammals. Nesting site for birds. Makes a good winter cover.
Wood : Used for dimension lumber, pulpwood and Christmas trees.
Urban/Recreational: Good yard or ornamental tree. Used singly or in group plantings in recreation areas and public grounds.
Cultivated Varieties: Dwarf Alberta Spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’) - Dwarf, compact form, very subject to winterburn and spider mites.
Related Species: Norway Spruce (P. abies) Colorado Spruce (P. pungens)
Description: Black Hill Spruce is a large tree, very dense and pyramidal when young. Not as drought tolerant as Colorado Spruce. Black Hills Spruce is a naturally occurring variety of white spruce native to South Dakota. Better adapted than White Spruce (Picea glauca) which is native in the eastern United States, as far west as Minnesota. Short needled, darker green and dense. Black Hill Spruce is very hardy and grows well in a variety of soils. Short needled, darker green and dense. Very harder and grows well in a variety of soils.
