I bought this dwarf blue spruce from Home Depot a few weeks ago. It was pretty much the last one they had, and I was planning to plant it once we got some decent weather.
Since bringing it home, I have kept it outside in my backyard, where it gets plenty of sunlight and rain.
I was finally getting ready to plant it when I noticed that as soon as I picked it up, a bunch of needles started falling off. Looking closer, some of the lower branches are almost completely bare, and it seems to be losing more needles.
I live in Canada (Ontario), and with fall here and temperatures gradually dropping, I am wondering if this tree is even worth planting or if it is already on its way out.
To complicate things, I recently had my lawn aerated and overseeded in preparation for winter. I am reluctant to dig up a section of the lawn to plant a tree that might die shortly afterward, leaving me with a dead tree and a patch of damaged lawn.
For anyone familiar with blue spruce, does this look like normal seasonal needle loss, or is the tree dying? Would you plant it or return it to Home Depot?
These pictures were taken a week ago and it looks even worse now.