The Complete Guide for Weeping White Spruce (Picea Glauca Spruce ‘Pendula’) Description and Care

The Weeping White Spruce, otherwise known as the Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ or Japanese Andromeda ‘Red Head’, ‘Red Head’Japanese Pieris, is a rather well known shrub plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.

Best known for its low maintenance and fast growth, this shrub will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.

Fortunately, taking care of your Weeping White Spruce is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Weeping White Spruce Care Guide. Now let’s get started.

In order to take proper care of your Weeping White Spruce you’ll need to keep in mind the following guidelines:

Water: The Weeping White Spruce grows well with weekly watering is perfect and more frequent in extremely hot conditions.
Light: Keep your Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ in an environment where it can receive partial shade to full sun on a daily basis.
Soil: Make sure to keep the Weeping White Spruce in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand and loam.

That’s it – sunlight, water and soil! The basic 3 fundamentals for all plant care, and with the Weeping White Spruce this is no exception. With these three elements, your leafy friend will live healthy and happy.

Scientific / Botanical Aspects

In botanical terms, the Weeping White Spruce belongs to the Ericaceae family, the genus Pieris and the species Japonica, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ (PY-see-uh GLAW-kuh).

Other members from the Ericaceae family include Cancerwort ‘Waterperry Blue’, Vaccinium Angustifolium, Scots Heather ‘Aphrodite’ and Hybrid Andromeda ‘Brouwer’s Beauty’.

As with other Pieris’s, the Weeping White Spruce is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.

Growing Region

The Weeping White Spruce is a plant native to the East Asia.

As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Weeping White Spruce is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.

With this in mind, the Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ will be most used to the heat zones in the 6 – 8 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 4b, 5b, 5a, 6b, 6a, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b and the ideal climate zone is between 2B, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17.

Growth and Size

Growth

In terms of size and growth, the Weeping White Spruce is a relatively fast grower, which makes things tricky for any plant enthusiast.

Size

But, what size of Weeping White Spruce are we talking about? What can you expect in terms of height, spread and spacing? Let’s dig in…

The Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ can grow up to 6′ – 8′ (180cm – 240cm) in 6′ – 8′ (180cm – 240cm) and 6′ – 8′ (180cm – 240cm) in 6′ – 8′ (180cm – 240cm).

These dimensions make the Weeping White Spruce a relatively large shrub compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.

Also, expect it to grow in a wonderful narrow, and weeping shape, which is something worthwhile to remember when making your garden landscape plans.

This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 96″ (240cm) free so the Weeping White Spruce can spread to its best extent.

Water

In terms of watering, the Weeping White Spruce is a fairly simple plant to take care of.

This is mostly because it has a straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.

Specifically, most experts agree that the Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ grows well with weekly watering is perfect and more frequent in extremely hot conditions.

Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.

Watering

As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Weeping White Spruce in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.

When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, and moist properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.

In our experience, the famous ‘thumb’ or ‘finger’ test is what works best for the Weeping White Spruce since with it, you will be able to give it the right amount of water, every time – regardless of the environment or placement where you do decide to keep it.

Soil Mix

As mentioned earlier, the Weeping White Spruce prefers to have soil with good drainage, and moist properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand and loam.

This is why most experts agree that the Weeping White Spruce requires soil with high organic matter, which will give you the right conditions it needs.

In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably acid soil.

Light and Exposure

In terms of light & exposure, the Weeping White Spruce requires partial shade to full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.

Most experts agree that this shrub will do well as long as you keep it in partial to full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.

Specifically, we recommend that you place your Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ in little to partial shade (only 2-6 hours of direct sunlight a day), to full and direct sun (more 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).

Season

Being an evergreen plant, the Weeping White Spruce will be present year round in your garden.

But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (early, mid), and during the winter.

Flowers

You can expect your Weeping White Spruce to flower around the spring, summer, fall and in the winter months from April to June (spring), from July to September (summer), from October to December (fall) and from January to March (winter).

The Weeping White Spruce produces some wonderful pink and white flowers around this time of year.

Foliage

The leaves from the Weeping White Spruce have a beautiful green color during most of the year.

In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a alternate organization in its leaves.

You can expect the leaves from your Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ to be around (1-3 inches) in size.

Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance

The Weeping White Spruce is well known for its tolerance to animals like deer, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ will be fine.

Garden

Does your Weeping White Spruce have any garden recommendations? Does it serve any gardening purposes? Here’s how you can get the most out of your new plant.

Most Picea Glauca ‘Pendula’ owners agree that this shrub will look great in most contemporary, asian/zen and rustic gardens of all types.

Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of city and courtyard, and in informal and cottage styles.

In particular, the Weeping White Spruce’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, others use it for landscaping in a privacy screen, or a specimen.

Conclusion

And we’ve come to an end. Fortunately, that’s everything you need to know about your Weeping White Spruce to keep it safe and sound in your garden or home. Enjoy planting!