Picea rubens 'Charlotte's Pillow' is a dwarf form of Red Spruce. Needles are a pleasing rich green on short regularly-spaced branches. Overall form of the plant is that of a flattened cone, growing outward slightly more than upward despite possessing a bit of apical dominance. It is a very compact mound with slow growth of 1-2 " (5-10 cm) per year. The original plant was quite old when discovered but it is suspected to achieve a 2-3 foot (less than one meter) spread and 2 feet (60 cm) in height after 15 -20 years.
Bill Journeay discovered the original specimen as a wild seedling in a cut-over forest area in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada, and named it after his late mother. He transplanted it to his yard and later relocated it to Kingsbrae Gardens in St Andrews, New Brunswick Canada. It has been propagated by grafting and most recently by rooted cuttings at a local commercial nursery. (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.
