# White Spruce (Picea glauca)

> White spruce, Picea glauca: a large tree of 40 to 80 feet for zones 2 to 6, how fast it grows, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/white-spruce/

![White spruce branch tips crowded with upright young purple cones among short green needles](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/white-spruce-1000.jpg?v=9b21236b "White spruce branch tips with young purple cones in Rivière-Mitis Regional Park, Grand-Métis, Quebec, on June 3, 2025. The cones ripen in August or September.")
*Photo: Cephas, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APicea_glauca_PrRM_01.jpg))*

Large tree, 40 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 6; full sun, part shade or shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow white spruce, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | White Spruce |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Canada spruce, Canadian spruce, skunk spruce, cat spruce, single spruce, Black Hills spruce |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 40 to 80 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 20 |
| Zones | 2 to 6 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Hedge or screen, erosion control |
| Pollen | May to July |
| Fruit | Cones, August to October |
| First crop | 30 or more years (in quantity; cones and seed have come on planted trees of 4) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones, but a lone spruce sets much of its seed with its own pollen, and that seed is often empty or gives weak seedlings. |
| Lifespan | Can live 1,000 years, and the oldest dated one reached 589. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on white spruce marks it as one that transplants well. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Stream banks, floodplain forests, dry uplands, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 12 states |

White spruce is native in 12 states: [Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA) and [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=white-spruce&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=white-spruce): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=white-spruce:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=white-spruce): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Common Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/index.html.md) (*Celtis occidentalis*): large tree, 40 to 60 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus rubra*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [American Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus americana*): large tree, 60 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Bur Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bur-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus macrocarpa*): large tree, 60 to 80 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares floodplain forests, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Black Gum (Tupelo)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/index.html.md) (*Nyssa sylvatica*): large tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Shumard Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shumard-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus shumardii*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares stream banks, floodplain forests and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Every companion of white spruce in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=white-spruce)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service and UF/IFAS Extension.