Colorado blue spruce

6.0

A tall tree with blue-green needles and a cone-shaped form often used in gardens

noun
/ˌkɒləˈrædoʊ bluː spruːs/

: pícea azul de Colorado

Many homeowners in Colorado plant the Colorado blue spruce to enhance their yards with its attractive color.
Colorado blue spruce tree

Examples

So got the beautiful trio of color, the weeping Colorado blue spruce, which will grow probably up to about the height of the roof there.
The Colorado blue spruce is a popular choice for landscaping due to its striking blue-green needles.
In the garden center, I saw a beautiful Colorado blue spruce standing tall with its dense conic crown.

Synonyms

Picea pungens

vsColorado blue spruce

Specialized

9.9

An evergreen tree with blue green needles and a cone shape, commonly called blue spruce

is described as a planted ornamental tree rather than only a wild species

Colorado spruce

vsColorado blue spruce

6.1

A tall evergreen tree with blue-green needles and lower branches that sweep downward

is framed more as a garden ornamental than a wild mountain native

silver spruce

vsColorado blue spruce

6.5

A tall evergreen tree with blue-green needles and lower branches that sweep down as it ages

is highlighted as an ornamental with a dense conic crown for planting

Surface Forms

Colorado blue spruce singular

Colorado blue spruces plural

Morphology

Colorado + blue + spruce

The phrase is directly compositional: 'Colorado' (place) + 'blue' (color) + 'spruce' (a type of tree) yields a specific kind of spruce that is blue and associated with Colorado. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words can readily infer it refers to a blue-colored spruce tree, so the meaning is transparently derived from its parts.

Etymology

Colorado blue spruce comes from where the tree is often found and how it looks: the spruce grows in Colorado and its needles are a striking silvery blue. So, the name means a tall tree with 'blue-green' needles that people plant as an 'ornamental' in gardens.