S for Spruce
Picea, or Spruce, is another genus in the Pine family that’s quite popular as a bonsai. While they aren’t available everywhere, they’re mostly distributed in temperate regions. There are 35 species of Spruce, many of them having other needle colors besides green. Actually, one of the oldest trees hitting about 9,550 years of age is the Norway Spruce, showing how long they can live.
The Spruce tree has adorable cones of varying shapes. Some are short while others are long. You can easily grow one as a bonsai, but you’ll need to be patient with how long it takes to grow. The needles are fascinating to study, especially with ones that look like they have pegs at their bases.
I’ve never had a spruce bonsai, but it’s on my tree bucket list to get. I’m sure my local bonsai nursery has one, as I think it will be too challenging to propagate. Also, I’m not sure how many spruce trees we actually have in our area. I guess I should ask the members of the bonsai society I’ll be attending to see if they know.
