Mt. Nusatsum

Mt. Nusatsum

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Blue Spruce?

Not really.  No such thing as true blue spruce (Picea pungens) around here.  To see those beautiful trees you would have to go down to the Colorado area or look around in peoples yards where they are planted as ornamental trees. 

Instead we have the Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) which occasionally shows a little bit of a blue tinge like this one, just enough to catch your eye and take a second look at it, but only at the right time of year in the right light.  While our Sitka Spruce is no where near as pretty a colour as a blue spruce, they are still a pretty magnificent tree.  Sitka Spruce from Canada and the US west coast is intricately woven into our modern war history as it was responsible for successful construction of American and Canadian Air Force planes during WWI. It was highly prized because for its given size and strength it had the ability to withstand bending and twisting and was unparalleled among other materials.

Given the size they reach on the coast and in places around the Central Coast and how well the new stands grow on some of our rich growing sites, it's still a really beautiful and important tree. Grizzly

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