Creeping Norway Spruce

Growth habit

Shrub

Perennation

Perennial

Location

Conifer Slope, Mullestein Winter Garden

Source of plant

Lake County Nursery Inc., Environmentals

Description

This is another form about which authors disagree: Beissner-Fitschen (p. 209), Hornibrook (p. 169), and den Ouden-Boom (p. 248) all refer to this name as being so poorly described as to be invalid. Moreover the illustration on p. 248 of den Ouden-Boom is incorrect; the fig. in Beissner-Fitschen is presumably `Repens', but is illustrated as `Procumbens'; it is therefore sensible to follow the description by Welch of the original plant from Hornibrook as a valid description: dwarf from, procumbent to spreading, branches layered from the middle of the plant outward, regular, dense and evenly formed; shoots orange-brown, glabrous, thin and very flexible, horizontally outspread, tips nodding slightly, annual growth 3 to 5 cm, leaf cushions not conspicuous; buds orange, oval-conical with sharp tips, terminal 3 to 4 mm long, the others 2 to 3 mm, usually 3 buds together at the branch tips; needles bright green to yellow-green (color variable), semi-radially arranged but very flat, twigs openly visible from beneath, very densely arranged and flexible to the touch, 8 to 10 mm long, straight, widest at the base with a distinct midrib drawn out to a small, sharp apex with 1 to 2 intermittent stomatal lines on either side.

USDA Hardiness Zone

2

Special characteristics

invasive, growth habit, winter interest, dwarf conifer