The small Alberta spruce trees that we know today were originally discovered in 1904 growing near Lake Laggan, Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies. Two horticulturists from the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard were traveling together and accidentally discovered a group of especially dwarf and compact seedlings growing beneath a forest full of towering white spruce trees. Because of their shape, small-scale needles, and slow growth, garden railroaders most often use Alberta spruce as forest trees, usually massed for a more natural effect.