Penny, you might consider a blue Atlas cedar. The general size, shape and
color is somewhat similar to a Colorado blue spruce, although the tops nod,
and the branches are not symmetrical. There are some massive ones at the
Duke Gardens in the Raleigh/Durham area, so I know they can be grown in
North Carolina.
"Penny Morgan" wrote in message
. com...
I was born and raised in upstate NY - born in Plattsburgh and lived in
Champlain, W. Chazy, Albany, Saratoga until moving to Raleigh, NC about 8
years ago. We had numerous Colorado Blue Spruces in our yard. They did
not
need any pruning and did wonderfully. As far as the split on the branch,
I
would tie it up and make it appear as it originally was as close as you
possibly can. Trees do not always show signs of distress immediately and
will die a slow death. Unfortunately, the Colorado Blue Spruce does not
prosper here in this heat and humidity. Instead, I will be planting some
Carolina Sapphires this fall, which are bluish in color, but not as pretty
as the Colorado was. Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
"Matt" wrote in message
. ..
I have a Blue Spruce, which is about a good 7 feet tall and I have had
it about 3 years. I'm not sure exactly how old the tree is. I live
in the Northeastern part of the U.S. Some questions I have a

1. Regrettably I found this now, as opposed to the winter. During one
of our bad snow storms, a branch split. This branch comes out of the
main trunk, then branches out to two branches. Basically it comes out
of the main trunk, and has a V joint. Now the split is right on the V
joint, so it still has a hold onto the main trunk. Neither of the
branches are dying (at least not yet, I don't see anything wrong). My
question is, how can I fix this? Or do I need to? There is sap that
is oozing out. It doesn't look like anything bored itself into the
break. Should I be concerened? Should I try to tie it up together?
Or should I apply something over the break to heal it and prevent
anything from going in? Do I have to worry about the weight that is
now on the rest of the branch?

2. When is the proper time to trim the candles (new growth) on the
Blue Spruce? I'm more used to pines which have long candles and I can
judge when to trim them. I'm not sure how big the candles on the
Spruce get.

3. What is the proper way to trim branches? That is cut them past the
candles? Or should this not be done?

Thanks in advance,
Matt