Benson Blue Serbian Spruce

Serbian spruce is a rare tree in its European homeland, but in our gardens it’s a popular and easy-care choice, available in many sizes and forms. The needles are typically green, but if blue is for you, then the rare and beautiful Benson Blue Serbian Spruce is just what you need. This charming little guy grows into a broad, rounded shrub of dense branches, covered with short needles that are curved upwards, showing their silvery undersides. A striking gray-blue color, this is a stand-out choice for anywhere in your garden, from a rock garden or a slope to the foreground of your beds, beside a path, or in the company of other dwarf evergreens in a bed of their own. It grows steadily to around 3 feet tall and about 4 feet wide, becoming more handsome and decorative with each passing year. A reliable and easy plant, more heat tolerant than many other dwarf evergreens, and a great way to create a color-accent anywhere in your garden. A cool choice for a planter box as well.

• A broad, tight mound of dense evergreen branches
• Silver-blue needles, something very rare in this species
• Easily grown in any garden
• Forget trimming – it’s naturally neat and tidy
• More heat tolerant than most dwarf evergreens – great in zone 8

The best spot for your Benson Blue Serbian Spruce in in full sun, as this is a plant that doesn’t enjoy more than an hour or two of shade each day. It will grow in any well-drained soil, from sand to clay, and from acidic to alkaline. Water your new plant regularly, soaking the soil around it, rather than spraying from above. Once it is well-established it will have no problem with the usual summer dry periods, and is a good conifer choice for zone 8. Deer, rabbits, pests or diseases don’t bother it, and it is very easy to grow. Since it naturally forms a neat, rounded ball, you never need to trim it at all. If, however, you see a branch beginning to grow straight up above the others, trim it off.