Colorado blue spruce - Picea pungens 'Glauca'

Saw a thread about spruce pruning, or sthg.

Here where I live, Picea is a tricky tree to grow: they're mountain trees, get mist or dew or fog in the morning and lot of sun in summer, and deep frost in winter. Not in the Loire valley, famous for its roses, cherries and pear spirit:



But fifteen yeras ago, or was it twenty years ago, I sowed some Picea pungens 'glauca' seeds. People in America call it "Colorado blue spruce" I think, but I much prefer to use the scientific name for everyone to know what I'm talking about.

Here, the summer can be very dry and hot for weeks, so a lot of lower branches die. Here is one of the few I've managed to keep:

December 2008:


July 2011:


May 2016:



June 2016: