Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens

Tree of the month series - this series of short articles about trees in the Belfast Botanic Gardens is compiled by members of the Friends group and Gardens staff. We aim to build up to a comprehensive archive of trees in Belfast Botanic Gardens. Each article will illustrate a tree growing in Belfast Botanic Gardens together with information from a range of sources. Click here to view the tree archive

Tree of the Month, October 2009

Brewer's Weeping Spruce

Picea breweriana

Jonathan Pilcher

Belfast Botanic Gardens has a young specimen of this most elegant of spruces planted near the statue of Kelvin at the Malone Road gate. This is a rare species in the wild being confined to a small area in Western USA, but is now widely planted. It was discovered in 1897, received an Award of Merit from the RHS in 1958 and an Award of Garden Merit in 1984. The Belfast tree is now producing abundant male cones in spring but is probably still too young to produce the characteristic elongated female (seed) cones.

 

Picea breweriana in Belfast Botanic Gardens, autumn	Picea breweriana in Belfast Botanic Gardens, spring
Picea breweriana male cones in spring	Picea breweriana male cone

Photos taken in 2009 in Belfast Botanic Gardens. Copyright Jon Pilcher