Picea glauca 'Scotia Spider' is an upright, open-growing selection of White spruce. It is unique and interesting with its snakelike growth habit, curious hook-like growth at terminal ends, sparse foliage and minimal inter-nodal branching, making it a unique centerpiece for smaller selections that surround it in the landscape. Scotia Spider has the potential to be a fast growing cultivar with specimens averaging 1-2' (.03 - .61m) of growth a year (20' [6.1m] tall by 6' [1.83m] wide after 20 years).
Bill Journeay discovered this curious cultivar in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1991 along a major highway where it still lives. He named it for its gangly, spider-like growth habit. Journeay has recently reported that the original tree is damaged and risks being destroyed as highway maintenance closes in on it. It has been successfully grafted and is established at Kingsbrae Gardens in St Andrews New Brunswick as well as private gardens in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. (See Conifer Quarterly Vol. 26 No. 2, Spring 2009)
This cultivar was registered through the ACS Conifer Registration program and accepted by the International Conifer Registry at the Royal Horticultural Society. William C. Journeay is officially recognized as both the originator (1991) and registrant (2011). It is currently being introduced through Kingsbrae Gardens, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada and various private gardens.
