We bought a Picea omorika 'Bruns Pendula' (Weeping Serbian spruce) from Stonewall Nursery just outside of Madison in the fall of 2014. Here I am in the nursery in the midst of a group of these trees trying to decide which one I wanted for our garden.
I'd been looking at this skinny evergreen on the Klehm Song Sparrow website but decided I wanted an immediate presence, rather than the small size they offered. At our ages, Mark and I are more willing to spend the money on statement trees and shrubs because we don't have twenty years to sit around waiting while tiny plants grow up.
This tree has everything I was looking for: a narrow footprint to fit a small space between the upper pool and a path; a quirky and asymmetrical shape, great pine cones and winter hardiness to Zone 4. It came through its first winter with no problems and produced a wealth of new pine cones. I've kept an eye on it all season, glad that we had plenty of rain so I didn't have to do much supplemental watering.
This image shows the shape of the tree and also how the pine cones darken as they age. Another great find from Stonewall which has been the source of most of our unusual trees over the years.
What a handsome tree. Well worth the extra cash and love.
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Friday, November 06, 2015 at 07:02 AM
I'm a gardener by choice as well, but find, as I age, that I simply can't do the ambitious planting and cultivating I used to do. More power to you for staying so strong!
Posted by: Still the Lucky Few | Sunday, November 08, 2015 at 08:49 AM