Mark A. Miller
Family
Pinaceae
Botanical Name
PICEA pungens 'Sester Dwarf'
Plant Common Name
Blue Spruce, Sester Dwarf Blue Spruce
Special Notice
This entry has yet to be reviewed and approved by L2G editors.
General Description
Image the most perfectly shaped, beautifully blue-needled blue spruce tree and then shrink its size down: now you have the Sester Dwarf cultivar. Blue spruce is native to the southern Rocky Mountains in the western United States. This dwarf cultivar originated as a chance seedling at Sester Farms in Gresham, Oregon. The pungent needles, are ghostly pale blue to gray-blue-green. These stiff needles, when grasped, result in a sharp prickling.
'Sester Dwarf' is best grown in full sun and an acidic, moist, well-drained soil. It can withstand many stresses, including drought, pollution, salt and wind. It is a rather slow-growing spruce but is not a particularly good choice to grow in hot, humid summer climates. Use it as a lone specimen in a lawn or garden bed with low-growing companion perennials or shrubs. A mature Sester Dwarf blue spruce is magnificent but small enough to remain in properly scale in the average to small residential garden.
Characteristics
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AHS Heat Zone
7 - 1
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USDA Hardiness Zone
2 - 8
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Sunset Zone
A2, A3, 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17
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Plant Type
Needled or Scaled Evergreen
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Sun Exposure
Full Sun, Partial Sun
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Height
12'-18' / 3.7m - 5.5m
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Width
6'-10' / 1.8m - 3.0m
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Native To
Western United States
