How To Train A Weeping Norway Spruce
Weeping Norway spruce are fast-growing ornamental conifers that are often selected as the focal point of a landscape due to their dramatic growth patterns and versatility. Left untended, they will grow laterally far more quickly than vertically, and will thereby create a sprawling ground cover extending many feet in diameter from the trunk.
Most gardeners prefer to train their weeping Norway spruce to grow vertically, on a stake or a wall, before allowing them to drape back toward the ground in one or more directions. It's even possible to train weeping Norway spruce to take on arched and other complex shapes.
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Things You'll Need
- Copper or PVC pipe
- Gardening twine or flexible tree ties
- Landscaping pins
Instructions
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Staking for Vertical Growth
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Drive copper or PVC stakes into the ground near the trunk of your young weeping Norway spruce. The weeping spruce is relatively fast growing, so leave as much as 5 or 6 feet of stake above ground.
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Continue to train the tree along the stake in an upward direction until it's reached the top or the height you desire. Bear in mind that the branches will now begin to grow downward, giving the tree a roughly conical shape. The shorter the vertical growth before that process begins, the wider the base of the cone will be.
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Use landscaping pins to train the weeping branches along the landscape surface in the direction you want them to grow once they've reached the ground.
Training Against a Wall
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Drive a stake about a foot from the wall you'd like your weeping Norway spruce to adorn. As the tree grows taller, begin to attach some of the rear branches to the wall using mortar staples or landscape pins.
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Direct the branches to the right and left to encourage lateral growth along the wall and away from the trunk.
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Allow remaining branches to cascade naturally until they're long enough to be trained with landscaping pins along the landscape surface.
Specialty Shapes
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Create an armature for specialty shapes such as simple arches using flexible PVC pipe.
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Using garden twine or flexible tree ties, train the main leader along the armature stake.
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Remove selected ties, starting from the bottom, as the branches and trunk become more mature and can hold their shapes without additional support.
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Arrange and train branches along the ground using landscaping pins, or train trailing branches upward along a new armature for a more complex design.
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Tips & Warnings
Weeping Norway spruce tend to grow in unruly patterns and shapes. Have a plan, but remain willing to be surprised by the graceful undulations your tree will create on its own.
Staking or tying too tightly can damage your tree. Never pull the tree or branches tightly against stakes and don't insert landscaping pins all the way into the ground. Leave room for the plant to grow.
