Picea glauca December - White Spruce

Picea glauca 'December' is a beautiful improvement of 'Conica', the most well-known and widely planted of the white spruces. With slightly faster growth, this conifer has a slightly more slender habit, perfectly conical, and naturally dense and regular vegetation, without any pruning necessary. In addition to this neat appearance, it has beautiful foliage, neither truly green nor truly grey, with a beautiful muted shade animated by discreet silvery or bluish reflections in winter. 'December' will also be a festive addition to your interior for end-of-year celebrations, before returning to the garden. It is perfect for adding an elegant and graphic touch to the landscape, allowing for endless play with colours, vertical and horizontal lines, textures... 

Picea glauca, also known as White Spruce, White Epicéa or Glaucous Epicéa, is an evergreen conifer belonging to the Pinaceae family. It is native to Canada. In its natural environment, it grows slowly, with a habit that can vary depending on its habitat, but usually conical or pyramidal with a broad base. This tree can reach a height of 25 metres (82 feet). This species is traditionally used for papermaking. It can live for many years (200 years or more).

The recent variety 'December', derived from this species, is a dwarf form and particularly elegant, with a compact, narrow, conical and upright habit. Slowly, after 10 to 15 years of cultivation, it will reach a height of 1.80 metres and a width of 80cm, sometimes more in cool and humid climates. Its annual growth is approximately 6 to 10cm (2 to 4in) per year. It produces short, ascending and very tightly packed branches, arranged in hierarchical brushes, covered with short and quadrangular needles, very sharp and aromatic (with a resinous smell). They are covered with a white wax. Its young spring shoots are of a tender green,  then its foliage takes on a slightly muted shade, uniformly medium green-gray, variable depending on the plants. In winter, due to the cold, the needles take on a bluish appearance. The root system of white spruces is shallow, highly branched, and trailing, making them difficult to transplant when mature and particularly sensitive to wind. On the other hand, a container-grown plant will quickly adapt to open ground.

The 'December' White Spruce, with its perfect habit, reduced size, and ability to temporarily tolerate the atmosphere of our interiors, is perfect for replacing the traditional Christmas tree (Abies nordmanniana). It is also a low-maintenance, easy-to-grow plant, perfect for rock gardens, terraces, or for solitary planting. It thrives in many situations, in various climates, as long as the soil is well-drained, deep, and not too chalky. This plant pairs well with large stones, geometric lines, and masonry works. It can be associated with prostrate conifers (Juniperus horizontalis 'Blue Chip', J. squamata 'Blue Star'), globose (Picea glauca 'Alberta Globe'), columnar or upright. The graphic qualities of conifers naturally stand out in a contemporary garden, which highlights shapes, silhouettes, and textures rather than the dance of blooms. These plants, with their reassuring permanence, structure a border, mark pathways, or the corner of a terrace. They pair well with heathers or persistent ground cover plants such as prostrate Euonymus, Cerastiums, certain Cotoneasters, as well as shrubs with white flowers such as Exochorda or mock orange. The key is to play with volumes and colours!