i was just wondering if this cedar pictures are eastern white cedar? if anyone knows i would love you to comment Blue spruce or white spruce?
First two are not cedars at all, but Thuja plicata. The spruce isn't determinable with the current pics; needs some good sharp close-ups showing the needles and shoots.
Thuja plicata vs. T. occidentalis, that is your question? Of the two spruces the one shown would be Picea glauca.
Thuja plicata (first pic) is glossy dark green above, distinctly paler below, and fairly narrow-angled sprays; Thuja occidentalis (second pic) is paler matt green above, and little different from below, with wide-angled sprays. Cedars (third pic) are very different, with needles, not scale leaves.
Spruce ID Colorado spruce (Picea pungens) has longer needles, often over an inch, that are thicker, and very stiff. Working with colorado spruce is like swimming in a pool filled with porcupines. Cones are light coloured, light beige to blond, about 3-4 inches long. If it's blue, it's almost certainly colorado. But only about 1/3 of colorado spruce are really blue. White spruce (P. glauca) has needles about 1/2" long, and is much less prickly. Cones are usually 1.5 to 2 inches long If you are in Ontario, you will also run into Black spruce. It's most commonly found in wet areas, and there, it develops huge witches brooms of cones in the top few feet. Grown on decent soil, it is hard to tell from white spruce, but the bark tends to be charcoal grey, with looser scales than white spruce which has redish tones to the bark. If in the city you may also find norway spruce, and black hills spruce Meyer's spruce, sometimes called 'Chinese blue' is seeing increasing use as a landscape tree. Appearance is bushier than white spruce, but not as dense as colorado. Cones are larger than white spruce, but not as large as colorado. Female cones are initially upright, and look like 3 inch purple candles. Needles have a blue-grey cast to their colour. Tree is more consistent in colour than colorado. Spruce needles have a square or diamond cross section. Rolling a needle between your fingers feels like pushing a square tired car. Balsam and alpine fir look much like spruce, but the needles aren't prickly. Needles are flatter than spruce, with prominent lines of stomata on the bottom side. Fir cones disintegrate as they spread their seeds, so you don't find last year's cones under the tree.
I'd like to try that comparison, but never had the chance. Anyone got a square tired car I can borrow to try it with? :-) Oh, and of course some spruces have flat needles too, like Sitka Spruce, Brewer's Spruce, Serbian Spruce ;-)
I'll give you a call the next time it gets down to 40 below and the Smart car won't start. I guess you know that the Porsild Spruce near Hinton Alberta has resin blisters in the bark just like a fir. Nature is a trickster.
