As gardeners, we seem to often want what we can’t have, and that’s certainly the case for us, and spruces of the genus, Picea. A hot, humid, sandy loam tobacco field in coastal North Carolina isn’t exactly ground zero for growing a lot of spruces well. We’ve learned quite a bit via trial and error and have actually found a decent number of dwarf spruces that have thrived here. Here are few that are looking nice this winter.
41 of our 100 spruces are selections of Picea abies, the Norway Spruce. Admittedly, this isn’t one we’d expect to thrive due to our dis-similarity to Norway, but it turned out to be one of the best species for us.
Picea abies ‘Sky High Witches Broom’ is a very small form of Norway spruce.
Picea abies ‘Little Gem’ is another excellent dwarf Norway spruce.
Picea abies ‘Bryce’ is reported to mature at 10″ tall x 1′ wide, but our plant has already exceeded that size. I guess it likes North Carolina better than Norway.
Picea abies ‘Hereny’ matures at 2′ tall, and our plant is well past 3′ in height. It too, is obviously thrilled to be here.
Picea alcoquiana ‘Howell’s Dwarf’ reportedly matures at 6′ tall x 12′ wide, which is much shorter than the 80′ height that’s normal for this Japanese spruce.
Picea omorika ‘Peve Tijn’ is a dwarf form of Serbian spruce, that has thrived here. This selection matures at 6′ tall x 4′ wide.
Picea pungens ‘Lucretia’ is one of many dwarf forms of the popular Colorado blue spruce. This should mature at 8′ tall x 5′ wide, so we have a ways to go. We have found a number of selections of Colorado blue spruce, which survive here.
What are the rootstock for these?
In most cases, we don’t know, but our guess is that most were grafted onto Picea abies.
Thanks, Tony, for these recommendations. I had 3 dwarf spruces a long time ago that did great for many years. Then one summer they were attacked by spider mites and were “gonners.” This was the first and last time that this happened. Since then I’ve been thinking of trying them again. Your post is giving me several options.
One question: does the dwarf blue variety do as well as the others that are not blue? (I’m thinking of surviving our hot summers.)
Thanks so much.
Mary Bean
Mary Bean again with another question. What are your growing recommendations? Full sun? Shade? Water?
I went back and read your post again, and saw that you are saying these (and others) are surviving our summers quite well.
Always a pleasure to find these gems and gems of wisdom.
Thanks again!
Mary
Yes, the blue foliage forms I posted are just as good as the green ones.
Picea abies once established does decently in eastern NC with some coning examples 70-100 years old. There are some grand trees in Oakwood Cem Raleigh, some in old Mebane, and several throughout Durham too. I suspect the success rate is lower than in cooler climates and one normally does not see as lush examples with the curtain effect of long foliage arms so familiar from Europe too. I maybe wrong but I don’t now of any good weeping examples in eastern NC compared to those in other areas.
If I’m not mistaken these spruces would like full sun, correct? Can you confirm? Also, regular watering?
Thanks again.
Mary
Yes, full sun, and regular moisture, but not soggy soils.
Thanks again!
I’ve heard the ‘Fat Albert’ Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens) may be the one ‘traditional’ Blue Spruce variety that can tolerate our hot/humid east-coast climate. Growers claim it will thrive in 8a if placed in an cooler 8a microclimate limited to morning sun, with mid-day/pm shade, sufficient air circulation, moist well-draining soil, etc.
Though not a spruce, a zone 8a heat/humidity-tolerant conifer I’m planting is the Turkish Fir (Abies bornmuelleriana). My goal is to ‘mimic” our NC mountain native Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) that we can’t grow here in the Raleigh area. If my experiment succeeds I hope to match the magnificent 20ft-plus specimen of Turkish fir (Abies bornmuelleriana Bolu-Kokez) seen in Juniper Level Botanic Garden.
I understand the Christmas Tree growers, faced with climate change are planting heat-tolerant Turkish Fir in the NC mountains and possibly the foothills. So I’m curious what keeps these growers from expanding field-grown Turkish Fir into the ‘flatlands’ of the NC piedmont?
Greg
We have been advocating Christmas tree growers in the Piedmont to look at Abies bornmuelleriana for years, although the growth rate in the Piedmont region of NC would be slower than in the mountains due to our high night temperatures.