Trees are an acquired taste, much like good wine. I often joke with my customers that anyone can grow and love a tree which grows up, but it requires a unique person to raise and love one that crawls along the ground, twists or grows up before diving back into the ground. If these trees could speak, I feel certain they would draw us to your dialogue, share wisdom and share a few stories that are unforgettable. Sound intriguing?
Most gardeners are familiar with the old standbys, like weeping willow, weeping cherry and Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick. Maybe youpersonally, however, are searching for something a little different, something to express your identity. Allow me to introduce you to 10 of my favorites and discuss how to use these to make them really yours.
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Pendulous Norway Spruce
(Picea abies ‘Pendula’)
This spruce is a real workhorse in the backyard. Nursery growers will generally stake this tree to a height of 6 to 8 feet. The tree is then free to state its identity as it turns and slowly heads back to the ground, developing unique twists, turns and cascades. No two are alike, so it’s important to choose the tree considering how its shape will enhance the overall look of your backyard.
I have four of these in my own garden. Three are displayed on a high ridge and named “The Elders” since they remind me of austere old men.
USDA zones: 2 to 2 (find your zone)
Water and soil conditions: Average water; well-draining soil
moderate requirement: Full to partial sun
Mature size: Generally 8 to 10 feet tall, depending on how the plant is staked
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar
(Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’)
This North African cedar is just another workhorse in the backyard. The species comes in many diverse forms, all fantastic, but many specialty nurseries will generally carry one of two yelling forms: either trained in a serpentine pattern and staked, or inside a hooked pattern in which the tree springs and heads straight toward the ground. Its powdery blue foliage is a perfect complement to the burgundy foliage of a Crimson Queen Japanese walnut or a purple smoke bush. It’s a slow grower but can eventually become very big, so some pruning and training will be necessary.
I made a living fence in my backyard using five of these weepers trained along a horizontal rod. It’s an excellent background for the perennials. A lone specimen is also great for anchoring of mattress of burgundy heucheras, zones 4 to 9, or low-growing Purple Pixie loropetalums, zones 7 to 10. Add a patch of Japanese iris, zones 4 to 9, since the contrast between the weeping tree along with the vertical iris makes a real statement.
USDA zones: 6 to 9
Water and soil conditions: Average water; well-draining soil
moderate requirement: Full to partial sun
Mature size: 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide in 20 years unless pruned; larger with age
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Cascade Falls Bald Cypress
(Taxodium distichum ‘Cascade Falls’)
Bald cypress is a wonderful conifer, partly because it is one of the few conifers that is deciduous. This weeping variety has delicate fern-like foliage which emerges chartreuse in the spring and turns a rich orange in autumn. It also develops amazing flashes in summer time and has beautiful exfoliating bark. A bonus is that this shrub will grow in very wet soil as well as ordinary soil. If your garden has a challenging wet place, this tree may be the one for you.
If you experience an arbor in your backyard, try one of these trained up rather than a pedestrian blossom to cover the construction. Your clematis-loving friends will be envious.
USDA zones: 4 to 10
Water and soil conditions: Wet to ordinary soil
moderate requirement: Full to partial sun
Mature size: Generally 8 ft tall, depending on how the plant is staked
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Twisty Baby Black Locust
(Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Lace Lady’)
This shrub grows like a more vertical kind of Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, reaching an average height of 15 feet. It’s an excellent terrace tree that is certain to start a dialogue. This locust could be pruned to encourage contorted growth and also to control size and shape. The foliage is very attractive, with glowing green panicles of little round foliage hanging in the branches. The foliage turns yellow in autumn.
I grow mine in a huge pot to give it more presence in my backyard.
USDA zones: 4 to 9
Water and soil requirements: Average, well-draining soil
Light requirement: Full to partial sun
Mature size: 15 tall and wide if unpruned
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Ryusen Japanese Maple
(Acer palmatum ‘Ryusen’)
That is one truly outstanding walnut, unlike any other. You’ll see it at specialty nurseries, usually staked to a height of 5 to 10 feet. It heavily weeps when it reaches its preferred height. The foliage is green and turns a gorgeous yellow-orange in autumn. This walnut is magnificent planted beside a pond, in which it reaches down to, and can be reflected in the water. It also looks great grown in a tall ceramic pot, giving an Asian look to a backyard.
USDA zones: 5 to 9
Water requirement: Average
moderate requirement: Partial sun
Mature size: As much as 10 feet tall, depending on how the plant is staked
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Weeping Canadian Hemlock
(Tsuga canadensis ‘Pendula’)
This group of dispersing conifers has elevated arthritis into an art form. Some specimens creep along the ground, meandering and fanning outward. Others are staked vertical, then cascade gently back to the earth. All are worth growing. Cultivars to Search for include Sargeant’s Weeping, Cole’s Prostrate and Verkode’s Recurva. As with the Norway spruce, it is ideal to handpick this shrub for your specific space. Use extra caution when transporting these as some cultivars are rather brittle.
A caution regarding hemlocks: if you live in an area of the country that’s been invaded by the dreaded bug called woolly adelgid, then you may choose to skip over this group of conifers. Most of these hemlocks remain relatively small and may be sprayed if needed.
USDA sets: 4 to 8
Water requirement: Average
moderate requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature size: Generally from 2 to 8 feet tall, depending upon the cultivar and how the plant is staked
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Blue Snake Deodar Cedar
(Cedrus deodara ‘Blue Snake’)
This conifer is a dwarf among the deodars, reaching a 10-year height of 8 feet. It may be found in two forms: either staked before the central leader strengthens, which makes it efficiently an upright but yelling tree, or even more thickly developed unstaked and left to meander across the ground in authentic snake-like fashion. Its bluish foliage gives it additional impact as it wanders down pathways and between perennials. I grow mine in a tall ceramic pot, enabling it to fall overboard.
USDA zones: 7 to 9
Water and soil requirements: Average, well-draining soil
Light requirement: Full to partial sun
Mature size: Up to 2 ft in height within 10 years should staked; larger with age. If unstaked, 1 foot tall, trailing to 15 ft)
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Ruby Falls Redbud
(Cercis canadensis ‘Ruby Falls’)
This newly introduced redbud unites the gorgeous foliage of this Forest Pansy redbud with a beautiful weeping form. The shrub blooms prolifically in early spring, with clusters of small pink flowers tightly hugging the bare branches. Beautiful big heart-shaped foliage then stalks, dark purple at first and finally turning black toward to end of this summer.
Ruby Falls creates a excellent little patio tree, usually reaching a height of 8 ft prior to cascading back toward the ground. It would look great behind a mass planting of Blue Star junipers, zones 4 to 8, perhaps with an accent of ‘Kim’s Knee High’ coneflower, zones 4 to 9.
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Another similar-size redbud cultivar to search out is ‘Whitewater’. This weeping redbud, which is apparently a weeping type of ‘Floating Clouds’, boasts heavily variegated green and white foliage, ideal for underplanting with Patriot Hosta, zones 3 to 9, and Visions-In-White Astilbe, zones 3 to 8, or even maybe endorsed by Casa Blanca lilies, zones 5 to 8, in a white garden.
USDA zones: 6 to 9
Water and soil requirements: Moist, well-draining soil
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature dimensions: 8 to 10 feet tall, depending on how the plant was staked
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Alaskan Cedar
(Chamaecyparis nootkatensis)
This exceptional conifer species can look quite majestic or even a bit ghoulish, particularly if backlit from the setting sun. Heavily weeping, dark green fern-like foliage earns this shrub a spot in virtually every garden. There are some wonderful cultivars, such as ‘Pendula’ and ‘Green Arrow’, but my favourite is ‘Van den Akker’. This cultivar reaches an average height of 20 to 30 ft, yet a width of only 2 feet following the reduced juvenile branches are removed. It’s spectacular when planted in groups of 3, as every tree has a somewhat different crying habit. Planted this way they almost seem as a group of people huddled in conversation.
USDA zones: 4 to 8
Water and soil requirements: Moist to average soil
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature dimensions: 30 feet tall and 2 feet wide
When to plant: Fall or spring
Jay Sifford Garden Design
Raywood’s Weeping Arizona Cypress
(Cupressus glabra ‘Raywood’s Weeping’)
This gorgeous bluish-gray weeping type of ‘Blue Ice’ is a celebrity in the backyard. Beautiful branchlets hang down from the trunk. A well-behaved narrow tree which should be staked to its preferred shape, Raywood’s Weeping will reach an average height of 12 to 15 ft in a decade in the backyard. Two are great positioned on each side of a garden entryway, since they’ll naturally form a household arch. I cannot say enough good things about this tree that is unique.
USDA zones: 5 to 9
Water and soil requirements: Average, well-draining soil
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 15 feet tall
When to plant: Fall or spring
