Question
I planted a blue spruce for a client a couple of years ago.  The tree appears healthy, however, it is no longer "blue".  Do I need to fertilize it with anything in particular?  I live in Prince Edward Island.  Our soil is typically short of selenium and lime.

Thanks for your help.

Ali

Answer
Full sun is preferred, for the blue spruce can lose it's "blueness" in shade.
The color of the needles can range from silvery-blue to green. The needle coloration is a result of genetic variations from tree to tree.

Blue Spruce grows best when planted in full sun, but will tolerate light shade. Too much shade, however, may result in loss of the bluish hue, loss of foliage density, or branch dieback.

The only way to make sure that you get the bluest possible hue in a blue spruce (Picea pungens glauca) is to purchase a grafted, named cultivar developed for its blue color. The genes of the plant determine the amount and the intensity of blue that the plant will display. When new plants are created from seed, they do not have the same genetic composition as their parent, so the results will be variable and unreliable.

I would fertilize.  For blue spruce, what I would suggest is the following. Use 30-10-10 fertilizer for the growth and use Aluminum Sulphate to help bring out the blue tinge that they are so famous for and the 30-10-10 will grow them nice and healthy. Use 1 lb per inch of trunk diameter scattered around the tree under the foliage. fertilize in the fall and again in the spring and summer.

Or give many of the shrubs, particularly the evergreens, including junipers, a dose of Miracid fertilizer at least twice through the summer.  Miracid is manufactured by Miracle Gro, and in my opinion, Miracid really is a miracle worker with evergreens and other acid loving plants.  Apply early in the spring to all evergreens showing signs of suffering.  Usually results can be seen within two weeks of application.  Results are especially noticeable when applied to Blue Spruce, or other blue-toned shrubs.  Miracid makes them a beautiful steely blue that everyone comments on.