Tsuga canadensis 'Cole' is a flat-growing, spreading, miniature selection of Canadian hemlock with tightly layered, weak and brittle, horizontal branching and short, delicate gray-green needles. Note that the bare, silvery gray branch surfaces tend to scald when exposed to intense afternoon sun. Many consider 'Cole' to be the slowest growing and most delicate of the myriad weeping hemlocks in existence. After 10 years of growth, a mature specimen will only measure 4 inches (10 cm) tall and 28 to 36 inches (70 - 90 cm) wide, an annual growth rate of 2 to 3 inches (5 - 7.5 cm), significantly more outward than up.
This cultivar originated as a spontaneous dwarf mutation found in the late 1920s, growing in the wild, at the base of Mount Madison, Coos County, New Hampshire by H.R. Cole. This conifer is almost universally seen offered in the nursery trade under the name 'Cole's Prostrate'.
