Picea pungens 'Fat Albert' is quite common and very popular in the nursery trade. It is a vigorous, densely compact, broadly pyramidal selection of Colorado spruce with nice, bright-blue needles. A mature specimen will measure 10 to 15 feet (3 - 5m) tall and two-thirds as wide after 10 years in the landscape, an annual growth rate of about 1 foot (30 cm). It naturally forms a leader; no staking is required for young plants.
This cultivar originated as seedling personally selected in 1981 by Jean Iseli of Iseli nursery, Boring, Oregon and whimsically named by Don Howse, a longtime friend of the nursery and self-proclaimed "plant addict." Don named this conifer after a cartoon character made famous by Bill Cosby. It is part of Iseli nursery's "Signature Series."
