A Grower Perspective

 Our Christmas tree is the traditional shape of this holiday tree; the pyramidal shaped Serbian Spruce. It has a slender trunk and two toned needles, dark green on top with silver-blue undersides. It is pre-adorned with red-violet cones that hang down. This tree eventually grows fifty-five feet tall with a twenty foot spread. Omorika grows in a wide variety of soils, is tolerant of air pollution and is fast growing. It can be planted as a stately single specimen or in multiples as a screen. Serbian spruce had a widespread range millions of years ago and was endemic to the Drina River valley in western Serbia and eastern Bosnia. Now in this region it is being crowded out by other native trees. It grows well here and although a bit rare it is readily available and well worth planting. Omorika is the Balkan work for spruce and is the perfect Christmas tree, just like the pyramid shaped ones children draw.