Serbian spruce

* Common name: Serbian spruce

* Botanical name: Picea omorika

* What it is: A tall, upright, graceful evergreen tree with short, flat needles of slightly bluish-green with silvery bands on the undersides. Habit is gently arching.

* Size: 50 to 60 feet tall, 20 to 25 feet wide.

* Where to use: Nice enough as a specimen evergreen but also useful in groups as a sunny screen planting (if you have 20 feet or so of border space to work with). Best in full sun.

* Care: Improve soil with compost before planting and keep soil consistently damp (never soggy) for first full year. An annual spring scattering of an acidifying granular fertilizer is helpful but usually not necessary. Pruning not needed if you give it proper space.

* Great partner: Ring with purple salvia ‘May Night’ or ‘Marcus’ or catmint ‘Kit Cat,’ ‘Blue Ice,’ ‘Junior Walker’ or ‘Walker’s Low.’

— George Weigel