Dwarf Serbian Spruce

If you live in the cooler zones it is natural to look with some envy towards gardeners in hot zones, who seem to have a whole range of exotic plants available to them. They do, but equally they miss out on another range of plants that are potential highlights in northern gardens. These are the conifer evergreens – needle trees like pine, spruce and fir. There are such trees that need warmer places, but the great majority come from cold areas, and that is what they love. A northern garden can be magnificent, planted with rare and unusual conifers, so if that is where you live, take advantage of it, and develop a wonderful low-maintenance, all-year garden with a selection of these plants. For one that is beautiful and easy to grow, and that revels in cooler summers and cold winters, look no further than the Dwarf Siberian Spruce. This classic plant develops into a beautiful specimen, and its very easy to grow.

The Dwarf Siberian Spruce grows into a round, globe-shaped bush, with dense branching. Young plants grow 3 to 4 inches a year, so within 10 years your plant will be around 2½ feet tall and about 2 feet across. The branches radiate out in all directions to create a dense bush without gaps or layers of branches. The short, ¼-inch needles are densely packed along the stems, and the upper surface is a bright aqua blue-green. The lower surface is silver, and both colors are visible, as the needles grow all around the branches. This makes the tree sparkle with an attractive silvery-blue look, with a greener coloring deeper inside. This is not a dark, somber evergreen, but a bright, attractive one that brings color and lift to your garden. Cones are rarely if ever produced.

All conifer evergreens continue to grow throughout their lives, but the Dwarf Siberian Spruce is a little unusual, because it grows faster when older, not slower, as most plants do. As a result, an older plant will add 6 or even 8 inches of growth per year, and a mature plant will be 4 to 8 feet tall and wide. Older plants develop a more conical form, with a taller center, although that can easily be controlled by trimming to maintain the round form, if you wish. Exceptional old plants may be 10 feet tall, so when you are choosing a plant location, consider the possible future size, and don’t squeeze it into a small space with no room for its eventual growth. These grand, older evergreens are magnificent specimens, often with considerable dollar value too, so allow your plant the space it needs to reach its true potential.

The Dwarf Serbian Spruce can be grown in many ways around your garden. Use it among the foundation planting, between bushes with darker green leaves, to add brightness. Plant it in a mixed shrub bed for year-round permanence and interest. Grow it in a rock garden. on a rocky slope, or on terracing. Plant a pair on either side of a path as an entrance, or to accent a turn in a walkway. Grow it with other dwarf evergreens in a bed with boulders and gravel mulch, for a striking garden feature. Use it in planter boxes too, where it will live for years as a single plant, or used with trailing annual plants added for summer. There is a place for this plant in every garden, especially if you want beauty, but low-maintenance without trimming.

Grow the Dwarf Serbian Spruce in full sun, or with a few hours of shade each day. In warmer zones some afternoon shade is fine, but full sun will give the densest, brightest growth. This easy plant will grow in almost any kind of soil, so long as it is not wet and boggy, so it will grow in almost any garden at all. It almost never has pests or diseases, and deer normally leave it completely alone. No trimming is required or desirable, but if you want a lower form you can cut back the central, upright branches in spring. 

the Serbian spruce, Picea omorika is a rare spruce in nature. It grows naturally in just a few places in Serbia, at spots along the valley carrying the river Drina. It has, however, become widely grown around the world as a commercial forest tree, and it naturally reaches 100 feet tall in time, forming a slender spire of green. It is fairly common for large conifer trees to develop clusters of shorter, dense branches on a limb, for a variety of reasons. This is what was found around 1930 on an ordinary Serbian spruce growing at the Goudkade Brothers Nursery, in Boskoop, the Netherlands. This is a famous plant growing area, with many nurseries. They took small branches from this ‘witch’s broom’, as these growths are called, and grew new plants, which kept the wonderful compact, dwarf form. That is what our growers do today, and these plants are directly descended through stem pieces from that first unique plant. The demand for small evergreens is always high, and the Dwarf Siberian Spruce is a popular plant, as it deserves to be. Order right away, while we still have this plant available for you.