Picea sitchensis 'Renken' / Renken Sitka spruce

Picea sitchensis 'Renken' is one of the smallest of the Sitka spruce selections available anywhere. Growth is quite small and very dense, typically growing less than 1 inch (2.5 cm) per year. The needles are a pleasing silvery, blue-green and are quite prickly, typical to the species. After 10 years the gardener can expect Renken to grow to approximately 1 foot (30 cm) tall and wide.

This selection has been in cultivation since the early 1990s. It was propagated from a witch's broom mutation found by Werner Wüstemeyer in Germany. Wüstemeyer chose the cultivar name, "Renken" in honor of the family who owned the property where he found the broom.