Norway Spruce Tree (Picea Abies)

Norway Spruce (Picea abies) is the classic Christmas tree species and a fast growing native of northern Europe, widely planted across the UK both as a conifer tree for forestry and as an ornamental spruce tree for gardens and estates. Extensively grown commercially, Norway Spruce is valued not only for its seasonal use but also for timber, particularly wood pulp and construction. Young trees have a neat, pyramidal shape that gradually becomes more columnar with age, and mature specimens carry many large, thin cones. Norway Spruce tolerates acid and alkaline soils, copes well with shade and exposed sites, and does best in moist ground, even tolerating occasional waterlogging, typically reaching up to 50 metres in height.

As Norway Spruce saplings establish, pink female flowers appear in May, turning downwards as the cones mature, adding seasonal interest alongside the tree's classic conical form.

A valuable food source for birds, moths and small mammals, Norway Spruce is a productive and reliable choice among spruce trees for both forestry and garden planting.