Question
I moved to the garland area in Texas, we have heavy clay(Texas mud)and dirt. My question is my best friend sent me 5 Michigan blue spruces, what do i need for planting and how far from my house do I plant them and is their anything else I need to know about planting and care about these trees.
thank-you for time

Answer
Blue spruce (Colorado Blue Spruce) Grows best in hardiness zone 3-7. Your seem to be just at the edge or out side the zone so you may have problems with this tree due to the heat. BUT it all depends on the local site I would try it.
They have a spread of 10-20 feet when mature so I would plant them at least 10-15 feet from the house and unless you want a hedge that far a part.
Dig the hole twice the size of the root ball and as deep and fill with good top soil or potting soil. Mulch around the tree with not more then 3 inches deep of organic mulch (pine straw is good) not piled up on the trunk. This will help hold moisture around the roots. The clay may give some problems with moisture. I would water every third day for a couple of months then once a week. Use a deep watering method-water with 1 inch of water each time -place a pan under the trees and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop. Too mush water can be as bad as too little.

Do not fertilize the first year or so.