In Touch of Conifer Blues
A few years ago I splurged and bought a Hoopsi blue spruce ($89 plus tax) from a local nursery. I wanted an accent for my front lawn nm have always liked unusually colored conifers. In fact these days there's enormous range of shades available, other thro green, nod sizes from alpines up and they are slowly being introduced here by the more enterprising Nurseries. Some are more hardly than one might imagine.
My expensive Hoopsi was naturally given the best of attention and ground preparation. During the first winter I wrapped it loosely with burlap although that is one of my pet peeves. I hate to see conifer wrapped monstrosities in gardens as if ready for shipment. Evergreens should be valued because of their winter beauty when everything else is hibernating. However, in the ease of newly planted stock it is needed to help the plant established and to avoid desiccation and the scorching effects of winter winds. This was especially important with the northerly exposure at the front of my house. By spring noticed that some of the branches were taking on greenish hue, but didn't worry too much since the new growth was clear blue. I repeated the burlap treatment the second year, partly because I had heard some people had lost fine specimens from their front lawns to the Christmas-tree-trade!
When the next Spring came around my poor Hoopsi had turned completely green! The local Nursery was still displaying a fine show of beautiful blue conifers in peat pots so approached one of the employees with great trepidation and quietly appraised him of my dilemma so as not to attract too much attention. He replied, in a stentorian voice, that he had not heard of that happening before. He suggested that I bring in the aforesaid item so he could better evaluate the nuances pertaining to the situation. Well shot on home and with great effort dug up the tree which now supported a 2.5 foot ball of fine roots and soil. I balled it in polythene, narrowly avoided a rupture, and transported it to the nursery at a trot. There I was directed to talk to the 'head honcho", who had observed out of the corner of my eye daintily unloading stock with a front-end loader. I eventually attracted his attention by throwing myself in his path and he agreed to come and look at my specimen which I have to admit was looking in pretty good shape, apart from the color. He, however, was far from impressed. He noted shrewdly that the new green growth was more sturdy than the blue growth on the spruces he sold. I pointed out that that might be expected since the leaves had more chlorophyll. He then demanded to know had I been using lime! Well, that was the limit so I told him, rather pompously perhaps, did he know whom he was talking to? This was no other than the President of the famous Newfoundland Horticultural Society! Although his eyes glazed over slightly, he quickly regained his composure and asked how was he to know who(m) (sic) he was talking to. Anyway, it must have had some effect because he started to get technical and lectured me at some length on the need to treat blue spruces with aluminum sulfate! I pointed out that I had never heard of the need treat blue conifers in this way as they were supposed to come true colour. Aluminum sulfate is used to blue hydrangeas, but that's another story. By the time I must have wore him down, and probably you too, because reluctantly agreed that could choose a new Hoopsi blue spruce. But because the price was now $113 plus tax I would have to select one of the smaller ones since I bad only paid $89 Pius tax two years ago ( I let that slip out!)- That didn't make much sense to me as they were all priced at $113 plus tax. But didn't argue and was helped on my way by his parting shot that he would take my green Hoopsi "blue" spruce to his own garden and soon have it back blue!
Anyway I shot off home like the clappers with my beautiful blue sprue confident this time of success, One of the perceived advantages of buying plants in pots is that there is relatively little physiological shock when you transplant them and they come with a good ball of roots. That might be true in some cases but not this blue spruce. The growing medium was bone dry with the color and consistency of dry clay, and I mean real clay! Furthermore, when I gently knocked the plant out of the pot clay fell out and I was left with a few dried roots. No sign of feeder roots, and certainly nothing like the fine balled specimen I had returned. The revelation came to me that maybe this was the secret to beautiful Hoopsi blue spruces; starve them in bone dry peat pot or dried clay so that they to put got the strength to put out feeder-roots.
Now we are back to winter and the burlap has gone up. Dare I say I’ve detected a tinge of green again? I'll give my Hoopsi another two years and then it will be back to the nursery again if necessary. After all that’s one way to keep up with inflation….
Ian R. Scenciall
P.S. Dare I now confess that some of the colour loss may have been due heavy rains!!!