Picea orientalis ‘Silver Seedling’ Oriental Spruce

Silver Seedling Oriental Spruce is a superb, low-maintenance dwarf conifer with remarkable two-tone branches that brighten up a shady garden and add appeal to a border or mixed conifer bed. The species, Picea orientalis, is native to the Caucuses and northeast Turkey, and the ‘Silver Seedling’ cultivar was introduced around 1990 by the Konijn Nursery in the Netherlands. Some nurseries sell it as ‘Sulphur Flush’, but ‘Silver Seedling’ was its original name.
This little tree grows slowly, at about 4″ to 6″ per year, becoming 4′ × 2′ in 10 years. When young, it is an irregular shrub with horizontal branching but takes on a pyramidal shape as it matures. Its appeal lies in its unusual two-tone coloring, featuring creamy white branch tips growing from dark green interior branches that hold their color year-round. Male and female flowers dot the ends of branches in the spring, and paper-thin female cones mature from late summer to fall. ‘Silver Seedling’ is beautiful as an eye-catching accent plant or in a border, conifer grouping, rock garden, or container.
The cream-colored branch tips are delicate and can burn in the hot afternoon sun, but bright full shade or dappled light, such as under a tall tree, brings out the best color in ‘Silver Seedling’. It grows in average, neutral to slightly acidic, well-draining soil. Water it well at planting and for a year afterward, and it will become somewhat drought-tolerant after establishing. Container-grown trees, however, will need more frequent watering than those grown in the ground since their soil dries out more quickly.
Tall trees, such as evergreens or conifers, can provide year-round shade from the afternoon sun for ‘Silver Seedling’. Pines, spruces, arborvitae, hemlock, hollies, and false cypresses are good choices that make a dark green backdrop for the light-colored branches. Companion plants grown nearby must also be shade-loving and have similar soil and water requirements. Hydrangeas, rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain laurels, camellias, weigelas, abelias, mahonias, viburnums, and bottlebrush buckeyes can partner with the little tree in the shade and offer some contrast with their colorful blooms and various textures. Flowering and colorful perennials for the shade, such as hostas, caladiums, astilbes, brunneras, ferns, heucheras, anemones, tricyrtis lilies, and saxifrages can also add a vibrant flair to the garden in the spring and summer.
In addition to its easy-care nature, slow growth, and outstanding, year-long color, Silver Seedling Oriental Spruce is resistant to verticillium wilt, deer, and rabbits.