![\"\"](\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/DSC_1301.jpg\" "\\"DSC_1301\\"")
<\/a>Serbian spruce at Arnold Arboretum in Boston<\/p><\/div>\n
Serbian spruce <\/em>(Picea omorika<\/em>) rises as a tall\u00a0spire in\u00a0the urban landscape. A mature tree may reach 50 to 60 feet high and it creates a narrow footprint of 15 to 25 feet wide.\u00a0Lateral branches uniquely bend downward\u00a0while the growing tips\u00a0sweep gracefully\u00a0upward.<\/p>\n Annual growth rate is slow at\u00a012-15 inches.\u00a0Two-thirds of the\u00a0short dark green needles lay flat.\u00a0Needles\u00a0are lustrous on the upper surface with two prominent white bands on the underside. Oval-shaped 2 \u00bd inches long cones hang downward, bluish-black early and light cinnamon at maturity.<\/p>\n Serbian spruce is highly adaptable. It grows well in full\u00a0or partial sunlight (6 hours recommended) and rooted in\u00a0moist well-drained soils with a wide\u00a0pH range. A 3-year and older\u00a0established tree handles\u00a0summer dry spells and rough urban environs. A nursery-grown tree transplants well in the early fall or late winter periods from container or balled and burlapped (B&B) stock. It is northern hardy to USDA hardiness zone 4 and with\u00a0good heat tolerance\u00a0to zone 7-a. It\u00a0becomes heat challenged past this point.<\/p>\n Serbian spruce deserves a more prominent place in commercial and residential landscapes. Few diseases and pests\u00a0trouble this staturesque tree. You can group several together as a windbreak or privacy screen or\u00a0plant\u00a0a single specimen, where ground\u00a0space may not be\u00a0plentiful.<\/p>\n If you are searching for an alternative to the oft-used Norway and Colorado spruces, try Serbian spruce. Dwarf and weeping cultivars are also available through e-commerce specialty conifer nurseries on-line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Serbian spruce (Picea omorika) rises as a tall\u00a0spire in\u00a0the urban landscape. A mature tree may reach 50 to 60 feet high and it creates a narrow footprint of 15 to 25 feet wide.\u00a0Lateral branches uniquely bend downward\u00a0while the growing tips\u00a0sweep gracefully\u00a0upward. Annual growth rate is slow at\u00a012-15 inches.\u00a0Two-thirds of the\u00a0short dark green needles lay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,604,649,774,902,630,831,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3315"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3507,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315\/revisions\/3507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}