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The Colorado state tree is the blue spruce, known for its hardiness and silver-blue hue. It grows in the Rocky Mountains and is popular for landscaping. It was approved as a state symbol in 1939 but is not widely used in official contexts. The tree was discovered by European settlers in 1862 and is also the state tree of Utah.
Colorado’s state tree is the blue spruce, or Picea Pungens, a particularly symbolic and symmetrical choice. This evergreen is known to be hardy and, when related to others, painful to break into its ranks. Despite sharp needles and cones, the tree and its close cousins are popular for landscaping in many northern states, especially for its silver-blue hue and the nearly seamless coverage it provides along property lines and windbreak.
Spruce grows along the peaks and foothills of the Rocky Mountain portion of Colorado, often in small groves but sometimes among stands of pine, spruce, or fir trees. It is an iconic image featured prominently in many mountain photographs of the state and others throughout the American West. Colorado legislators approved the tree as a state symbol in 1939. It is also the state tree of Utah.
This relief in the landscape has not translated into many cultural applications. The Colorado state tree does not appear in many state symbols such as the flag or seal. The closest thing to being mentioned in official context is in one of two state songs, “Where the Columbines Grow.” Composer AJ Fynn dedicates the song to the state’s official wildflower, the white or lavender columbine, to show how, though many animal species have disappeared, the flower remained to help define the “Purple-clad West.” . In the chorus, Fynn quickly passes the state tree, or at least its family of species: “It’s the land where the columbines grow.”
During an early expedition to the West, European settlers first noticed the Colorado state tree near Pikes Peak in 1862. Botanist CC Parry is credited with the discovery, although the natives definitely knew of its existence before him . The trees grow in tall conical peaks in Colorado, near the southern end of their natural habitat, up to 135 feet (41 m) tall and 35 feet (11 m) wide. Further north in its Canadian habitat, the trees grow to slightly smaller statures.
The Colorado State Tree is popular for utilitarian and aesthetic reasons in several northern states. Spruce especially grows in or near U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 2 through 5. This location is a swath of occasionally cold territory in Canada and the United States that tends to withstand long periods of extreme heat.
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