I'd wager it will survive, but there may come a time when you wish it hadn't. I think it depends somewhat on where you are located, but even if you are in their native range, full sun is, of course, best. If you aren't in their native range, my experience is that even picea pungens grown in more forgiving environments tend to look less than optimal as they age. But I'm not a huge fan of the species, anyway, so perhaps I shouldn't opine.

plain old picea pungens???

nice to see you working with a reasonable sized plants... finally ... lol ..

jon???.. why in the world couldnt you have waited a month.. and planted it in fall ... rather than august??? .. i realize its a high shade area.. but dude... there is alwasy a proper planting time ...

it will do just fine in shade ... the annual growth might be slower ... and it wont fill in as thickly ... but so be it ...

i have two globosa types in full dark shade..

2 spring ghosts in lots of shade like yours... but rather bright ...

and also a spring flush yellow one.. in almost all shade.. but bright

so.. if it can get over the personal insult of planting it in august.. you ought to be all set ...

ken

Thanks for the replies. Ken - Normally I wouldn't plant right now, but here in rural/suburban northern NJ we just got over a 2 week long heat wave and are now experiencing a run of cool, breezy, sunny early fall-like weather that's supposed to continue. I figured it would work out nicely and give it some extra time to get rooted for the inevitably rough winter coming.

Yes it it regular ol' pungens. Can you post a pic of one of your shade-heavy pungens cultivars? Would love to see them.

Shade has a way of getting more dense over time. Are you going to remove some trees or maybe limb them up a bit?

As long as that tree gets water for the rest of the season, and it came out of a pot, I see no reason why not to plant it now. It IS in partial shade.

Mike