Why Plant Skylands Oriental Spruce?
If you tend to think of evergreen trees as dark and somber additions to the landscape, then the Skylands Oriental Spruce will change your mind completely. This slim pyramidal conifer will light up your garden year-round with gold-frosted foliage. The new growth is especially brilliant, appearing all over the plant like glowing lemon-yellow pompoms that gradually extend with the warming days of spring. Hot pink male “flower” cones that appear at the same time are another color treat that this people-pleaser serves up, and the female cones are purple before changing into the brown pinecones (or “sprucecones”) that we are all familiar with. Quite a parade of color from this special evergreen! Oriental Spruce is native to the Caucasus Mountains, where eastern Europe meets western Asia. This elegant tree is seldom planted in American landscapes; Norway Spruce, with its faster growth rate, and Colorado Blue Spruce, with its powder-blue needles, are more often the trees picked to “spruce up” our yards. However, Oriental Spruce is a choice tree deserving of much wider use. It can get tall, but it has a very small footprint and fits nicely into today’s smaller landscapes. Its dense, dark green foliage looks sharp at all times. This spectacular gold-needled form originated at the Skylands Botanical Garden in New Jersey in 1979.
How to use Skylands Oriental Spruce in the landscape?
Skylands Oriental Spruce has very short needles (Oriental Spruce has the shortest needles of any of the Spruces), which are rounded at the tips and soft to the touch. They hug the tiered branches tightly, clothing every branchlet in golden yellow. Skylands has a graceful, open outline in youth, becoming fuller and more regal in time.
How To Plant Skylands Oriental Spruce
Skylands Oriental Spruce is at its best in moderate climates where summers are relatively cool and mild. It tolerates considerable cold in the winter, but needs to be sheltered from strong subfreezing winds. This specimen conifer requires moist but well-drained soil to reach its potential, although the species is known to be drought tolerant once established. Skylands is especially sensitive to climatic extremes when young, and browning of the needles may occur when exposed to hot summer sun or freezing winds. With age the tree will tend to “toughen up” a bit. Skylands Golden Spruce is generally free of most pest and disease issues, although spider mites can be a problem in hot, dry weather.
How Does Shipping Work?
Bower & Branch Trees, the real BIG trees, don’t fit in a box! Our big trees, sizes XL and bigger, require expert delivery and care, that means our extra-large trees are shipped on Bower & Branch trucks. We are the only ones who know how to ship our big and bigger trees and plants with tender loving care. We deliver your trees and plants directly to you. Ask Bower & Branch about planting services – we'd be happy to assist in installation.
*For Big trees and Shrubs, Size XL and bigger: Review our Seasonal Shipping Timelines and Policy here.
Your trees and plants are grown across the United States at various Bower & Branch Growers. Depending on your location, your plant orders may be shipped from various locations. Please expect orders with multiple items to be delivered over a number of days as a result. Orders made up of numerous items or selections will not arrive at your home on the same day.
Shipping Delays:
From time to time, Bower & Branch Growers may determine to delay order shipment based on various factors for plant health. Weather in your region, as well as, where your plants are grown, is always considered when shipping. Extreme weather conditions may delay some or all of your order. Bower & Branch allows our Growers to make final shipping decisions based solely to benefit your trees and plants’ health and success.
How Does Sizing Work?
The size of our trees have nothing to do with the container size like you may find elsewhere–big doesn't mean just height - it’s also vigor, age, and overall health. Other online retailers are going to tell you that a plant is a seven gallon, that means nothing to your tree or plant (or you.)
Our trees for sale online are graded on large, x-large, and even bigger sizes. This is because our trees are sized by their age—the higher the letter, the more mature the tree. The age determines the trees’ overall height, size of the trunk and the overall branch density.
All of these characteristics are what you should be looking for when choosing a tree for immediate impact and instant curb appeal. Our extra-large tree and plant sizes are sure to wow you and your neighbors!
See the size guides below.
