Weeping White Spruce Brings Bold Winter Interest to Small Garden Spaces
A conifer with a dramatic shape
With its silver-blue needles, cascading branches and narrow silhouette, weeping white spruce (Picea glauca 'Pendula') makes a handsome specimen in a tight garden space. It serves equally well planted as a small group to anchor a garden bed or in a row as a privacy screen. However you use it, this evergreen conifer deserves the spotlight in winter, when its color and shape can really come to the fore.
Common name: Weeping white spruce
Botanical name: Picea glauca 'Pendula'
Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Foliage: The needles on weeping white spruce begin bluish green and take on a white cast with age. They are stiff and short, with pointed tips. Their texture makes them unpalatable to deer (although deer appetite and behavior varies with location and population pressure).
Related: For a smaller, rounder cousin to the weeping white spruce, check out 'Globosa' blue spruce.
Size and habit: 'Pendula' white spruce has a moderate growth rate of about a foot per year. In 10 years, it reaches a size of 10 feet tall and three feet wide at the base. It width tapers toward the top of the tree. Its branches are stiff and reach straight out from the trunk before curving downward to create the weeping shape.
Origin: The species Picea glauca is native to Alaska, Canada and the northernmost contiguous United States. The cultivar 'Pendula' dates to the 1860s, where it was discovered growing as a sport (natural mutation) in Versailles, France, according to the American Conifer Society.
How to grow it: Provide 'Pendula' weeping white spruce with full sun or part shade and well-drained, moist soil on the acidic side. Be sure it receives consistent water to maintain a moderate soil moisture, especially in its first year in the garden. White spruce is not considered a drought-tolerant conifer. Site it away from streets and walkways where it might be subjected to road-salt spray during winter snow removal. USDA Zones 2–8.
