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Picea Glauca Pendula

Linda's Garden z6 Utah

10 years ago

I want to get some type of tall upright growing ( with weeping branches) conifer for my small urban yard. Height is not an issue but I would like it to have a fairly small footprint in the yard. I live in northern Utah, along the wasatch front which is zone 6.

I have seen some pictures of Picea Glauca Pendula and it seems like the perfect fit. I am wondering what you all think about this tree and if you have any better suggestions. It would be planted in an eastern exposure with morning sun and afternoon shade.

While I am an experienced gardener, I don't have much experience with conifers other than the usual alberta spruce. I am designing a garden with hosta and Japanese Maple trees and figured some conifers would be a great addition. I just don't have room for anything gigantic.

Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Linda

Featured Answer

outback63 Dennison

10 years ago

'Morton Tower' and 'Pendula' believed to be same cultivar.

I grow both. The differences are slight and I believe to be two different cultivars. I know some won't agree with me.

Piceaa glauca 'Morton Tower'
{{gwi:692734}}

Picea glauca 'Pendula'
{{gwi:692735}}

Dave

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Comments (10)

Sara Malone Zone 9b
10 years ago
I can't speak to your zone - I'll let others in zone 6 opine, but I love this tree. I have three, one planted as a specimen and two flanking an entry. They are the quintessential 'Whoville' tree to me, if you read Dr. Seuss. You sometimes need to straighten the leader of young trees with a small piece of bamboo while it hardens, but that isn't onerous. Another one you might look at are various Cupressus (used to be Chamaecyparis) nootkatensis cultivars - they are rangier and not as formal/elegant, but have very small footprints.
Conifers should go very well with your maples and hosts. Check out the American Conifer Society website for more info.
Have fun!
Sara

Here is a link that might be useful: American Conifer Society
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
10 years ago
It will do just fine for you. I have one, as most here do, and it is a good staple in a conifer garden.

tj
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I agree and thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction, I really like the curves compared to my straight lines on the dog bone bed. The curves on the bed connecting the arbor will make my picea pungens 'hoopsii' and Picea glauca 'pendula' really pop! I like this much more than the round circle I had before that made these trees blend in. Dave perhaps this fall I will take measurements off my yard and work on this over winter. Right now I just want to get a basic scetch of what I think could look good. I won't be putting these beds in until fall 2012. Tonight I'll lay the roundup down for the arbor bed, mark the spot for the plants, etc to get it ready to plant in 6 weeks pending weather. A garden hose is definitely easier to use and lay out curves, I just use rope because the beds are very large. Just an example, the bed I have to the right of my house, I have about 400' of rope down to create this bed. The cost of rope is much less than the cost of hose. When I add those 3 beds to the back yard I'll lay out all 3 beds at once just to make sure I really like it. If I do one bed at a time with my water hose, I may not like the overall design once all 3 beds are in place. What looks great on paper could look bad in person and vise versa. I use 1/2 pink hose, it shows up pretty good and I can easily see the layout from the second story window. I took your design and modified the middle bed to force the design to stay out in the yard and not so close to the house. I couldn't have it wrap around the kidney bed like you have it only because it would have put the small bed to the far right of your scetch in the back deck. With this design, I should have around 20' of space. I may or may not make the middle bed arch out on the other side a little instead of a half circle. It'll depend on how much room I'll have.
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Hello - I'm a complete newbie to this forum but hoping that someone will have some enlightenment that can help with what appears to be a dying Weeping White Spruce. My young tree, which I guesstimate to be about 3.5 feet tall, is exhibiting the same browning that the OP had described in this thread. The tree, which I planted last summer, is located in an area of the lawn that gets mostly dappled afternoon sun. I've provided it with regular watering since planting it last year. It looked great in the early spring but over these past couple months has exhibited this significant browning and needle loss. Unless someone chimes in with an alternate treatment, I'll plan on using the same Bayer product that was suggested here. So far, I've not been able to eyeball any insect activity that might explain these woes. I'd be grateful for any additional input as I really do not want to lose the tree. Thank you!! Best, Brett
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very nice ... and i told you.. its periods.. not commas ... lol ..[but i cant recall what post.. so i dont know if you replied.. lol] how big was it === when you got it?? ==== did it take much training === etc [well.. that doesnt work ... lol] ken
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Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it. They may be popular and un-rare, but I still love them. Here is my original that does grow "normal". Also have a third smaller one. That's probably enough for now, gotta save room for other plants. Pretty soon I will have my lawn converted into grass strips/paths. I have been taking pictures of the gardens/plants all spring. One of these days I'll try to get some posted. I would like to do more rock work, but they are somewhat expensive around here. Hard to buy a boulder when you can buy a nice conifer for less!
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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it does fine in z5MI.... and i think it was a z4 winter ... extreme cold.. blistering winds.. anything with yellow or white tissue burned ...

as a blue.. which is a glacous coating on the needles.. i do not think there is any damage on mine... and i was within 3 feet of it the other day .. and should have noticed ...

as to UT... i dont know.. some of you guys out west have weird effects with altitude.... that i dont deal with ...

conifers are trees ... a subset.. so your tree experience should be good enough as a knowledge base ....

ken
sluice
10 years ago
Picea glauca Pendula does fine here along the front range.

Another narrow weeping option that might work for you is Sequoiadendron giganteum Pendulum.
Linda's Garden z6 Utah
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for your input everyone! Seems like no one has anything bad to say about this tree so think it is probably the right one for me. I'm sure our climate is similar to the front range of Colorado.

Sara, you're right about the "Whoville tree"...maybe that's why I like it so much. I checked some of the local garden centers websites and I see they have a couple that are what I am looking for. One is called Morton Tower and the other weeping white spruce. I think I will have to go check them out tomorrow. They look similar only Morton Tower appears to not grow as tall according to the website.

Thanks for your help!
Linda
Linda's Garden z6 Utah
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi Dave, thanks for posting those pictures! Your yard is stunning! What is the name of the slender one in the 2nd picture closer to the house? It looks nice too!

Thanks
LInda
Embothrium
10 years ago
Weeping sequoia gets big, some clones fork and grow broad also.
outback63 Dennison
10 years ago
Linda,

Pinus parviflora 'Glauca'. Left click on photo to enlarge.

{{gwi:692737}}

Dave
Kathy Holmes
6 years ago
Hi all you Whoville tree enthusiasts, I've been doing the landscape design at our church. here is my plan for a tall, short and medium set of these trees.

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