colorado blue spruce no. 19

Picea pungens

Height 40" Width 22"

Spruce react to spring faster and with more responsiveness than almost any other species. Given their short window to produce growth in the alpine it makes sense the buds take advantage of light and warmth, once they poke out of the snow, to rapidly elongate and harden off. This gives alpine spruce just enough time to put on a minute amount of vascular growth to form an incremental expansion of foliage allowing alpine spruce to slowly increase in size over time. Every tree is genetically designed to be a big tree, and environmental factors are the biggest impediment to any tree achieving its truest potential.

Beyond climactic limitations, the alpine is a rugged environment filled with wind, snow, and erratic events. This spruce shows the stunted length of branching that emerged from a high snow load environment. Its dead top giving rise to reiterations speaks to gale force winds above the forest canopy, blowing ice, and freezing temperatures that make life outside the canopy impossible. Anchored in the organic Jan Rentenaar ceramic, the combination of tree and tray speaks to the ultimate gesture of nature in miniature with the vessel carrying forward key concepts of the dependency trees have on the soiled environment that anchors them in place to endure the hardships of existence in these fantastical natural ecosystems.