Picea mariana 'Jack William' is a weeping form of the Black spruce. It is a good upright form with annual growth 1-2 feet per year, producing a mature tree, 15 ft. tall by 4 ft. wide after 10 years. The trees forms nice apical dominance with its lead terminal while laterals form a nice cloaking effect with the branchlets weeping straight down. Needles are a nice rich green and slightly lusher than is typical of the species.
Bill Journeay discovered this fine cultivar in a thinned-out, naturally regenerating forest in Queens County, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1999 and named it after his grandson. It has been successfully grafted and planted at several locations throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia with the earliest graft established at Kingsbrae Gardens, St. Andrews, NB, Canada. (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 (1999) and registrant (2011). It is currently being introduced through Kingsbrae Gardens, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.
