Colorado Spruce, native to regions of the Rocky Mountains in the western and southwestern United States, is planted throughout the United States and Canada as an ornamental evergreen, including all of Ohio. Although it is commonly seen in forms that display blue or blue-silver needles, green-needled forms also exist. Many selections have been made for both foliage color and growth habit, the latter of which may be dwarf, weeping, broad, columnar, or formally pyramidal into maturity. Tree forms are not usually limbed up, but allowed to branch to the ground throughout their life. Most trees may easily reach 50 feet tall by 25 feet wide at the base, although in the wild much taller specimens are commonly reached. Perhaps no other evergreen tree is as cherished for home landscapes as Blue Spruce, its more common name in the nursery industry. As a member of the Pine Family, it is related to other Spruces, as well as the Firs, Larches, Pines, and Hemlocks.

Colorado Spruce, among the three most common spruces found in Ohio, has the longest and sharpest needles, and they radiate outward from the twig (left), rather than point forward. As with all evergreens, the new needles of spring have a strikingly lighter color as compared to the growth of previous seasons.

While many Colorado Spruce occur as the blue to blue-silver foliaged forms, this species exhibits great variation in needle color, caused by the amount of wax that covers the surface of the needles. Some forms have the traditional blue or blue-silver colors (and are usually referred to as Blue Spruce), while others are distinctly green (and are called Green Spruce in the nursery industry).