Spruce identifion - Ask Extension
So my father planted this spruce around 50 years ago. He always called it a red spruce but it seems slightly different. It grew with multiple stems/tr...
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Spruce identifion #926311
Asked March 19, 2026, 1:27 PM EDT
So my father planted this spruce around 50 years ago. He always called it a red spruce but it seems slightly different. It grew with multiple stems/trunks. When I was at the arboretum it had similar shape and multiple stems of a Dragon Spruce. Any ideas what it is?
Isanti County Minnesota
Expert Response
I can’t tell you for certain what kind of spruce you have but below are some description that may help you.
It looks like your father planted several seeds - that is a clump of trees and one tree,
Look closely at the needles to see how they are shaped and how they grow. This will help you in identification. There can be a wide variation of traits among varieties so that makes it difficult to say what variety you have.
The red spruce is much hardier (zone 3b) than the dragon spruce (zone 6).
https://conifersociety.org/conifers/picea-asperata
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/picea-asperata/
