Weeping Serbian Spruce (Picea omorika ‘Bruns’)

Weeping Serbian Spruce
Picea omorika ‘Bruns’
(PY-see-uh)
Pinaceae (py-NAY-see-ay)

Yesterday broke a long streak of consecutive daily posts for me. I wanted to spend some time here but with going to the airport the night before and having to leave early the next morning it didn’t happen. I have been working on a house in Darien that has been slowly upgrading and adding some garden areas. There is a lot of construction going on inside the house and I had to remove some of the landscaping in the front of the house earlier this year. It is the house that I am growing the lone Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei 'Zuni') I have under cultivation. I did get another request for one and if I go out to Long Island to buy some plants I going to look around for one.

Last year I installed a perennial border below a stonewall in the back of the house. It is bisected by a set of flagstone stairs that lead up to a large patio. At the bottom of the stairs there is a path that leads to the swimming pool. Whenever I do a border like this I try and plant a couple of anchors on the ends and in this case by the side of the stairs. For the edge of the stairs I used Dwarf Blue Spruce, I have forgotten which one but it is a slowing growing cultivar, real blue too (I think it might be Picea Pungens 'St. Mary's Broom'). On the far end I used a Coral Bark Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’). Since it is a relatively small tree it works as a specimen. The coral twigs add another season of interest. When I went to the nursery for the perennials I picked up a Weeping Serbian Spruce (Picea omorika ‘Bruns’). It is a cute little tree with weeping branches but an upright habit (if that makes sense). This spring I was doing our usual sprucing by the gardens when I noticed these red cones. They are just beautiful, and really look nice against the greenish-blue foliage. According to Iseli Nursery Bruns Nursery in Germany selected this tree in the 1920’s. They say a 6-10 inch growth rate with a ten-year height of 5-8 feet. I read somewhere else that it has a final height of about 14 feet. Nice addition to the garden, I think and it is a little more interesting than the regular P. omorika 'Pendula'.



Just for fun I wanted to post a picture from my yard. It maybe the first one. This is a nice Azalea that blooms every year no matter what. I think it maybe a Kurume Hybrid. The color is one of my favorites for Azalea. I like the Kurumes for the compact habit and heavy bloom.

A little news I almost forgot. My Photography is being featured in an on-line magazine from Australia. It can be found at:
New Paradigm Journal

One of my dream trips would be traveling to Australia and New Zealand and I have been saving my frequent flier miles for a business class ticket for several years now. I need just 10k more. So maybe this is an omen. The people at the magazine are real nice and they have an interesting site.

I hope over the next couple of weeks I plan for some introspection about why I am a gardener, what I know about gardening and what I want to accomplish. I hope to be posting some of my thoughts.