7b eastern exposure, good drainage, late afternoon shade

Not counting 'Conica,' no. And my 'Conica' made it four years before declining, although the roots were horribly girdled, so it's tough to say exactly what got it. I've given up on the species here. Tellingly, Tom Cox also has none in his arboretum in Canton.

In my SC garden I’ve had pretty good luck with several small broom cultivars. Don’t think I would waste my time with the Alberta Spuce types though.

I've grown Picea glauca, straight species for Christmas trees but they're much slower than

Picea abies. when I harvested the last group I found 2 6" seedlings under one of the trees

and spared their existence. They are now 10' + !

My impression, neglecting higher altitudes, is that white spruce's warmth-limit for anything more than a short life is zone6a.

Partly relatedly, I am still waiting for the grafted-on-Picea-abies Picea engelmannii 'Warrior' - which is the only spruce of that type I'd ever thought I would want in my garden. Grafting wouldn't fix the problems that could affect the foliage, but I think it would give it a better chance of being vigorous and surviving insects. (assume P. engelmanii would have roughly the same problems that P. pungens does in the eastern US?)