Weeping White Spruce - Late Summer - September 2024

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One of the conifers that we have in our backyard is *supposed* to be a really lovely columnar evergreen tree:  a Weeping White Spruce.  I planted it in 2019 along the fence on the southside with hopes that it would grow up-up-up and be a sort-of 'exclamation point' in our garden bed.  Here's what it looked like in Fall of 2019: it was 46" tall from the soil to the top of the leader.   Then, this thing suffered a little bit from drought.  And, I lost the leader.  That was Summer of 2020.  

Now...four years later, the tree is...well....ABOUT THE SAME.  See below:

Weeping White Spruce Tree - New Leader

I took out the tape measure because my eyes weren't telling me if this thing actually grew.  This tree was 46" to the tip in Fall of 2019.  Five years since planting - and four years since the leader was lost - this tree is NOW 49" tall.  That means....we're up 3".  Just 3".  But, because of pruning of the 'lost leader', I don't think that tells the full story.  I suspect it was down 5-6" from the peak - so call it 40".  Now - up 9" to get to 49".  

Weeping White Spruce - top Growth - Leader



I last posted a photo of this tree in the Spring when it was putting on some new growth via lime-colored tips.    Flipping back-and-forth between the photos, I'm not sure if there has been any new growth this year.  I wired up a new leader, but this tree has suffered with ZERO real growth since the top was lost. 

I also posted a photo in June of 2023 - 15 months ago.   I've put these two photos side-by-side and you can see some top-growth.  Below is a look:  on the left is the current tree (September 2024) and on the right is 15-months-ago (June 2023).  It appears that the 'new leader' that I wired up has put on some mass and the tree is taller yet retains most of the mass at the bottom.  

Weeping White Spruce Tree - One Year of Growth


Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA

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