Spruce Vs. Cedar

Foliage

• Spruces have rigid needles that develop out of what appears to be a woody peg on the twigs. The evergreen needles are often sharp, notes "Trees of North America." Cedars have scale-like foliage that overlaps on the twigs of rounded or flattened branchlets. Spruces such as the Colorado spruce have a bluish-green tint to their needles. The foliage of many cedars, including the eastern red cedar, takes on a bronze color in the coldest months of winter.

Cones

• Small, woody cones or berrylike fruits that contain their seeds are characteristic of the cedars. Birds eat the fruit-like cones of some cedar trees. Spruces have hanging cones of different sizes, depending upon the species of tree. For example, the Norway spruce generates a cone up to 7 inches long, while red spruce produces much smaller cones -- only about 2 inches long at most. Spruce cones are light, with thin scales.

Size

• Several spruce species attain heights of between 70 and 100 feet, including the Norway spruce, Sakhalin spruce, Sitka spruce and Engelmann spruce -- all of these trees grow much larger in the wild. Others are more manageable for smaller landscapes, such as Colorado spruce and white spruce, growing to 60 feet. Cedars such as the western red cedar sometimes approach 200 feet tall in a natural setting, but most cultivated forms are between 50 and 70 feet high. Atlantic white cedar grows to nearly 90 feet, while eastern red cedar is smaller at between 40 to 60 feet. Both cedars and spruces have many cultivars that are shrub size or appropriate for creating hedges and privacy screens.

USDA Zones

• As a rule, the spruces do not do well in very hot climates. Most fail to thrive or grow properly in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones warmer than zone 7, but several grow into the frigid zones 2 and 3. Some cedars are more tolerant of weather extremes. The eastern red cedar grows from zone 2 through zone 9. The western red cedar does best between USDA zones 5 and 7, while Atlantic white cedar is suitable from zone 4 to zone 8.