Pinaceae - Pine Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 68
Red Spruce
Picea rubens
This Red Spruce lives on the Blue Ridge Parkway by the Mt. Pisgah Inn.
http://www.pisgahinn.com/.
If you have never been there, I encourage you to go there. It is so beautiful with the views that just go on forever. When you get up that high at around 5,000 plus feet above sea level, you will be high enough to be in the spruce fir forest ecosystems. During the second week of March, I saw the blooming red maples. To be standing under a blooming red maple tree is magical, like you are standing under a living bouquet of flowers.
My husband, Robert, found a whole forest of Red Spruce Trees on the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 422, the Mt. Hardy Overlook. Two of his photos are on this blog post.
The parkway sign at Mt. Hardy overlook reads as follows:
"The United Daughters of the Confederacy in cooperation with the United States Forest Service planted this 125 acre forest as a living memorial to the 125,000 soldiers North Carolina provided the confederacy. The 125,000 Red Spruce Tree Forest was planted over a three-year period from 1941-1943."
I understand that it is easy to distinguish this tree from other conifers. How so?
The needles are square and 1/2 inch long. They are one per bundle.
They do not have the undersides of the Eastern Hemlock and Fraser Fir which are silvery.
The bark is flaky.
The cones hang down.
The needles are sharp and you feel it when you shake hands with a branch.
Spruce trees are the home of the endangered Northern flying squirrel.
This tree can live up to 350 years. It usually grows up to 130 feet tall.
There is a 50 acre virgin Red Spruce Forest in the Gaudineer Scenic Area in West Virginia in the Monongahela National Forest. I will go there in the near future and report back here on what I find. Oh my gosh, I can't wait!!
The Spruce Tree is the tree used to make the first chewing gum. Did you know you can still buy spruce gum or make you own spruce gum. You could also make your very own spruce gum box, which was quite the item back in the 1800's. I think I may just make a spruce gum box myself.
To make your own gum, you will collect the sap, boil it, and put on a cookie sheet to cool. I understand that spruce gum is known to cure many addictions.
I photographed these trees today at the Red Spruce Memorial Forest on the Blue Ridge Parkway on a September morning. It was a very beautiful morning with the light filtering through the trees.
The United States champion red spruce lives in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is 147 feet tall and has a 152 inch circumference.
For the love of the trees,
Becky
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 68
Red Spruce
Picea rubens
Spring
 |
| The Red Spruce - Picea rubens. Photo by Robert Priddy |
http://www.pisgahinn.com/.
If you have never been there, I encourage you to go there. It is so beautiful with the views that just go on forever. When you get up that high at around 5,000 plus feet above sea level, you will be high enough to be in the spruce fir forest ecosystems. During the second week of March, I saw the blooming red maples. To be standing under a blooming red maple tree is magical, like you are standing under a living bouquet of flowers.
Summer
 |
| Red Spruce |
 |
| Red Spruce Forest on the Parkway |
The parkway sign at Mt. Hardy overlook reads as follows:
"The United Daughters of the Confederacy in cooperation with the United States Forest Service planted this 125 acre forest as a living memorial to the 125,000 soldiers North Carolina provided the confederacy. The 125,000 Red Spruce Tree Forest was planted over a three-year period from 1941-1943."
I understand that it is easy to distinguish this tree from other conifers. How so?
The needles are square and 1/2 inch long. They are one per bundle.
They do not have the undersides of the Eastern Hemlock and Fraser Fir which are silvery.
The bark is flaky.
The cones hang down.
The needles are sharp and you feel it when you shake hands with a branch.
Spruce trees are the home of the endangered Northern flying squirrel.
This tree can live up to 350 years. It usually grows up to 130 feet tall.
There is a 50 acre virgin Red Spruce Forest in the Gaudineer Scenic Area in West Virginia in the Monongahela National Forest. I will go there in the near future and report back here on what I find. Oh my gosh, I can't wait!!
The Spruce Tree is the tree used to make the first chewing gum. Did you know you can still buy spruce gum or make you own spruce gum. You could also make your very own spruce gum box, which was quite the item back in the 1800's. I think I may just make a spruce gum box myself.
To make your own gum, you will collect the sap, boil it, and put on a cookie sheet to cool. I understand that spruce gum is known to cure many addictions.
Fall
 |
| The Red Spruce Tree |
I photographed these trees today at the Red Spruce Memorial Forest on the Blue Ridge Parkway on a September morning. It was a very beautiful morning with the light filtering through the trees.
Winter
 |
| The Red Spruce This photo is provided by the USDA Plants Database. USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Vol. 1: 61. Picea rubens |
The Champion Red Spruce Trees
The United States champion red spruce lives in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is 147 feet tall and has a 152 inch circumference.
My favorite Red Spruce Trees
My favorite Red Spruce trees live at the Red Spruce Forest Memorial on the Blue Ridge Parkway. When you walk into that forest and the light shines through the trees, you know you are on sacred ground. For the love of the trees,
Becky
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