Picea abies pendula Weeping Norway Spruce Tree

Left to its own devices, 'Pendula' will illustrate its name by growing in a spreading fashion across the garden floor, no more than 3 feet off the ground and very sprawling and dense. This can be useful if you wish to grow it to cascade over a wall or other barrier. However, most gardeners train it to desired shape using supports. Fully staked, it can reach 5 to 6 feet high within 10 years, and eventually -- many decades later! -- 12 to 20 feet tall with a width of just 10 to 12 feet. Yet when young, with staking, it will display a narrow, weeping silhouette. You begin to see the difficulty of categorizing this conifer by size!

Deer-resistant and quite cold-hardy, this weeping Norway Spruce sports ¾-inch needles of deep green, very stiff and closely set on pendulous branches. It offers an absolutely unique silhouette -- no two specimens will look just alike -- and is striking in Asian-themed gardens, courtyards, as a landmark, and in accent plantings of all types. Zones 3-7.