19 Weeping Evergreen Trees to Add Year-Round Interest

The branches on weeping evergreens droop downwards, as you may have gotten from the name, to help create a very graceful profile. This weeping habit is usually the result of mutations focused on through selective propagation where you take cuttings of certain species and graft them onto a standard species’ rootstock. You can’t propagate weeping evergreens by planting a seed as the pretty drooping growth habit won’t carry through. Also, many of today’s weeping trees have “pendula” or “pendulum” in their names, and this comes from the Latin work pendula, or to hang down.

Weeping evergreens are a great choice if you’re trying to get a year-round focal point in your garden due to the drooping habit. Since they’re evergreen, they’ll keep their foliage all year round, even in harsh winter conditions to add welcome color in the cold winter months. If you have a smaller space, consider a dwarf weeping evergreen. Whatever you choose, we’ve picked out 19 great weeping evergreens for you to consider below.

1. Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’)

This is a very heavily weeping evergreen that has drought-tolerance and zero-maintenance aspects that make it appeal to a range of people. It produces flowering ribbons of greenish-blue foliage that drapes down like Spanish moss from a trunk that bends. It gets between 10 to 15 feet tall by 3 to 12 feet wide at full maturity , and you can stake it to get a taller growth habit or allow it to sprawl out and be shorter. It grows between 12 and 24 inches each year, and the growth will be closer to two feet a year when it’s planted in a well-draining soil in full sun with a pH of 5.1 to 7.8.

• Mature Size – 10 or 15 feet tall and 3 to 12 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 6 to 8
• Position – Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type – Although it’ll tolerate a range of soils, it prefers a slightly acidic pH range with a soil that drains well.

Blue Atlas Cedar by Jim, the Photographer / CC BY 2.0

2. Callistemon (Callistemon citrinus)

This weeping evergreen is an Australian native, and it is also called the weeping bottlebrush tree. This is technically classified as an evergreen, and it makes a fantastic addition to any landscape design. This is a smaller tree that usually gets between three and five feet high at full maturity, and it produces larger red flowers that look like bottlebrushes tucked along the narrow, long leaves and drooping branches.

Ideally, this weeping evergreen will thrive in zones 9 and 10, and you can easily cultivate this short specimen as a shrub in warmer climates. When you grow it in containers, you can take it inside during the winter in cooler climates, or it’ll even survive as a houseplant. It will need moderate watering, full sun, and a well-drained but moist soil to thrive.

• Mature Size – 3 to 5 feet tall and wide
• Planting Zones – 9 and 10
• Position – Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type – Can survive in most types of soil, but it prefers it to be slightly acidic and well-draining conditions.

Callistemon by Dinesh Valke / CC BY-SA 2.0

3. Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariensis)

As the name suggests, this weeping evergreen comes from the Canary Islands, and it’s a stunning pine cultivar. You’ll get gently sweeping branches with greenish-yellow foliage. It survives in dry, hot climates like deserts fairly well. It can also grow very well in inland, colder climates that have lower humidity levels. At maturity, you’ll get a tree that gets 20 feet wide and 80 feet high, and it grows roughly two feet every year. They can survive temperatures down to -10°F when you plant them in clay or sand-based soil, and you want to add pine tree fertilizer in spring and again in mid-summer to encourage growth.

• Mature Size – 80 feet by 20 feet
• Planting Zones – 9 to 11
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Well drained, moist, slightly acidic sandy, clay, or loamy soil

 Canary Island Pine by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble / CC BY 2.0

4. Feelin’ Sunny Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara ‘Monkinn’)

In direct contrast to the Blue Atlas, the pretty greenish yellow coloring of this weeping evergreen contributes a frothy, light texture to your smaller garden design. This evergreen offers a spreading, low profile when you grow it as a shrub, and you can stake it to add height and drama. This is a sunny cedar that can grow to 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide at full maturity, or you can prune it to keep it a smaller size. It grows best when placed in full sun and loamy sand or clay-based soil with a pH range of 6.0 to 7.5.

• Mature Size – 12 feet by 8 feet
• Planting Zones – 7 to 9
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Tolerates most soil types well, but it prefers well-draining soil with a slightly acidic pH range.

Feelin’ Sunny Deodar Cedar by Steve Haslam / CC BY-SA 2.0

5. Gold Mop Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Golden Mop’)

Technically, this weeping evergreen is considered a dwarf shrub that grows a lot like a miniature tree. It offers chartreuse, drooping needles that keep the color during the winter, and it’s a cold-hardy specimen that offers vivid contrast against darker plants. It’s a disease-resistant, compact plant that grows slowly and eventually reaches five feet wide by five feet tall. It prefers clay-based or loamy soil conditions as long as they’re fertile, or you can add an evergreen fertilizer in the summer and spring to boost the growth. It needs full sun to keep the bright coloring, and you’ll have to trim it to keep the conical shape, but it works well as a hedge plant.

• Mature Size – Typically five feet tall by five feet wide
• Planting Zones – 4 to 8
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Will survive all soil types, but it prefers a neutral to acidic pH level with soil that drains well.

Gold Mop Cypress by Drew Avery / CC BY 2.0

6. Graceful Grace Weeping Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii ‘Graceful Grace’)

This weeping evergreen gets the name from the branches as they’re packed full of greenish-blue needles that angle very gracefully toward earth. You will have to stake them to keep them upright as the main trunk tends to bend downward otherwise. If you leave it in this natural growth habit, it makes a nice ground cover or shrub. Over 10 years, this tree will get three to four feet wide and seven to eight feet tall. It’s tolerant to drought and very low-maintenance, and they prefer full sun, a pH of five to seven, and soil that drains very well.

• Mature Size – 25 feet tall by 15 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 5
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Slightly acidic with a pH between five and seven with well-drained by moist sandy or clay-based soil

Graceful Grace Weeping Fir by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0

7. Inversa Norway Spruce (Picea abies ‘Inversa’)

The final height of this weeping evergreen depends wholly on how high you train it to go. Without any support structure, it will spread out and grow as a weeping ground cover. To encourage a more vertical growth habit, you’ll pick a central leader on this weeping evergreen and attach a pole or stake to it so it has something to lean on. This is one of the hardiest weeping plants you can get, and it works as a nice focal point in colder areas. It takes some effort to train it, but it’s well worth it.

• Mature Size – 1 to 1.5 to 10 feet
• Planting Zones – 3 to 8
• Position – Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type – Prefers very rich soil with a pH range of five to seven with well-drained, moist sandy or clay soil

Inversa Norway Spruce by James St. John / CC BY 2.0

8. Jubilee Nootka Cypress (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Jubilee’)

This pretty cypress cultivar grows in an upright form that doesn’t necessarily need you to support it, and it offers wide-spreading, pendulous branches that drape down from a narrow trunk in flat rows in a deep green color. This weeping evergreen has a very dramatic look when you plant several of them together along a fence or in garden borders. In 10 years, this tree will reach the mature size of 12 to 18 feet tall by 5 feet wide, and it offers a yearly growth rate of 12 to 18 inches when you plant it in partial shade to full sun. It prefers consistently moist soil, and it’s not picky when it comes to pH level or soil type.

• Mature Size – 18 feet tall by 5 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 5 to 8
• Position – Full sun but will grow in partial shade
• Soil Type – Can grow in most soil types, including chalk. However, it prefers well-draining conditions with a slightly acidic pH

Jubilee Nootka Cypress by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0

9. Mexican Weeping Pine (Pinus Patula)

This warm-weather weeping evergreen offers a towering trunk where branches that are covered in palm-like, swaying foliage grow from. It’s native to dry climates, and it’s a fairly drought-tolerant plant that is great in xeriscaping. Mexican Weeping Pines can get up to 30 feet tall in 15 years and keep growing. They thrive in poor and infertile soil conditions, and it’s a very low-maintenance plant to have. It doesn’t do well in alkaline or soggy soil.

• Mature Size – 30 feet tall and 10 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 9 to 11
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Can tolerate almost all soil types with a neutral to acidic pH range. It prefers well-drained, moist conditions.

Mexican Weeping Pine by Carine06 / CC BY-SA 2.0

10. Weeping Acacia (Acacia pendula)

Native to New Zealand and Australia, this weeping evergreen is a very unique cultivar that has draping branches that are covered in silvery, long leaves. It’s full and rounded at the early stages, and it grows thin and tall as it matures before reaching heights of 15 to 20 feet. It can also grow decently in containers.

This weeping evergreen resists both deer and drought, and it’s a hardy tree that will grow in harsh urban environments. Since the leaves have a minimal amount of shedding, it’s a popular choice to grow along streets or sidewalks. It enjoys locations with full sunlight, hot planting zones, and well-drained soil.

• Mature Size – Usually 15 to 20 feet tall and 7 to 10 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 9 to 11
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Can tolerate various types of soil, but it prefers slightly acidic pH levels and soil that drains well.

Weeping Acacia by Sydney Oats / CC BY 2.0

11. Weeping Alaskan Cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis)

This weeping evergreen resembles a traditional Christmas tree that has hanging tinsel built right into it. You’ll get flat-needled, soft boughs in a greenish-blue color, and they hang off of arching branches in a wispy, light fashion. The trunk stays upright and solid, and this lends a conical shape to the tree. In the wild, these trees grow to huge sizes. However, in the home garden, they usually don’t get much over 30 feet tall and 10 feet wide, and they grow at the rate of a foot per year. They prefer slightly acidic soil that drains well in full sun.

• Mature Size – Usually 30 feet high at 10 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 4 to 7
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Tolerates a range of soil types, but prefers to be in slightly acidic pH ranges with a well-draining, loose soil

Weeping Alaskan Cedar by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0

12. Weeping Colorado Spruce (Picea pungens ‘The Blues’)

This dusty-blue Colorado spruce weeping evergreen looks like it lays virtually flat across your lawn. Even individual trees lay at a slightly different position. You get a limber, broad trunk that is covered with glowing, lush needles that grow on arching branches. It’s fast-growing, much like full-sized spruce trees. It maxes out at 12 inches of growth each year, and it grows best in full sun in moist, slightly acidic soil. It will tolerate short droughts, coastal salty air, and urban pollution.

• Mature Size – 40 feet tall by 5 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 2 to 8
• Position – Full sun or partial shade
• Soil Type – Will grow in most types of soil, but likes slightly acidic to neutral soil that drains well

Weeping Colorado Spruce by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0

13. Weeping Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis ‘Pendula’)

This draping, elegant weeping evergreen will be a focal point in your yard. This hemlock offers a dramatic upward growth habit that suddenly droops down at the branch tips. It spread lime-green, lush foliage across bare tree trunks, retaining walls, and perennial beds all year-round. It’s very cold-hardy, and it’s tolerant of drought. It doesn’t need a lot of maintenance, and this is a dwarf hemlock that will get between 10 and 15 feet tall when you allow it to grow up adjacent structures or plants. It can spread out to 30 feet across the yard if you don’t prune it.

• Mature Size – 10 to 15 feet tall by 30 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 4 to 8
• Position – Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type – Tolerates most soil types and damp growing conditions

Weeping Hemlock by Berellian / CC BY 2.0

14. Weeping Nootka Cypress (Cupressus Nootkatensis ‘Pendula’)

This weeping evergreen offers a nice tinsel-fringed appearance when you spot it, and it adds aromatic, thicker foliage on upward curving branches as it grows. It produces a lot of autumn “berries” each year. This is a stately evergreen that will top out at 12 feet wide and 25 feet tall with a growth of 12 inches per year under the right conditions. They prefer parietal shade or full sun, and they’re tolerant of various soil types.

• Mature Size – 25 feet tall by 12 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 4 to 8
• Position – Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type – Will grow in all soil types, but thrives in slightly acidic pH ranges and soil that drains well

Weeping Nootka Cypress by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0

15. Weeping Norway Spruce (Picea abies ‘Pendula’)

One of the heaviest weeping evergreens on the list is this pick. It’s an unusual evergreen cultivar that forms a very heavy drooping effect that is dramatic to see. The branches run parallel to the bent trunk, and it offers swaths of very fragrant needles. It looks like a rounded, tall shrub at full maturity. It can get up to 25 feet high, and you have to stake it to keep the upright growth habit. Without it, it’ll turn into a ground cover.

• Tree Size – 25 feet high by 15 feet wide when staked
• Planting Zones – 3 to 7
• Position – Full sun to light shade
• Soil Type – Prefers to be in well-drained but moist conditions, and it can grow in sand, clay, or loamy soil with neutral to acidic pH levels.

Weeping Norway Spruce by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0

16. Weeping Silver Fir (Abies alba ‘Pendula’)

Another very significant drooping habit is this weeping evergreen. It’s well-known for producing arching branches that are packed with greenish-silver needles that cascade down a columnar trunk. This is a cold-hardy conifer that requires minimal maintenance to keep it looking nice, and it will give you great contrast and height against other garden plants. While this is considered to be a dwarf tree, compared to other fir trees, it can get eight feet tall by four feet wide and grow 12 inches per year. They thrive in most soil types, but do very well with slightly acidic pH.

• Mature Size – 8 feet high by 4 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 4 to 8
• Position – Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type – Moist, slightly acidic pH range of five to seven, well-drained loamy, sandy, or clay-based soil

Weeping Silver Fir by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0

17. Weeping Spruce (Bush Form) (Picea abies ‘Inversa’)

The limber nature of the branches and trunk on this weeping evergreen creates the chance to use it as a border hedge if you take the time to train it. It has vibrant green foliage throughout the year, and it is an upright, sweeping cultivar that can get up to 30-feet tall, but it’ll only get 1.5-feet tall if it droops fully. It grows best planted in loamy, rich, or sandy soil conditions.

• Mature Size – 30 feet tall by 13 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 3 to 8
• Position – Full sun
• Soil Type – Slightly acidic, well-draining soil. It grows best when you put it in loamy soil, but it can tolerate sandy soil too.

Weeping Spruce (Bush Form) by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0 

18. Weeping White Pine (Pinus strobus ‘Pendula’)

This is a very prominent weeping evergreen, and it has a weeping trunk in addition to the branch structure. This pine can grow as a shrub or staked tree. It offers pale green fronds that drape prettily over stone retaining walls, along the ground, or over fences. Outside of heavy pruning, a staked pine in this category can get up to 15 feet tall and wide, and it grows at a rate of a foot each year. It prefers to be in loose, well-draining soil, and it’s a very low-maintenance option that is tolerant to drought. You can plant it in loamy, clay, or sandy soil but you want to avoid chalk.

• Mature Size – 15 feet tall and wide
• Planting Zones – 3 to 8
• Position – Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type – Moist but well-drained loamy, sandy, or clay-based soil with a moderate pH level

Weeping White Pine by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0 

19. Weeping White Spruce (Picea glauca ‘Pendula’)

The final weeping evergreen on the list is a spruce, and it grows in a conical, elegant form with pendulous branches that flow from the main trunk. It has a greenish-blue needle color that looks pretty in perennial borders. Unless you prune it regularly, this tree can get up to 40 feet tall at a rate of a foot per year while keeping a slimmer profile. It prefers to grow in a sheltered location, and it thrives in colder climates with adequate rain.

• Mature Size – 40 feet tall by 8 feet wide
• Planting Zones – 2 to 8
• Position – Sheltered spot with full sun to light shade
• Soil Type – Prefers to be in well-drained but moist conditions, and can thrive in sand, loamy, or clay soil with neutral to acidic pH levels.

Weeping White Spruce by F.D. Richards / CC BY-SA 2.0 

Using a Weeping Evergreen in Your Landscaping

There are several ways you can use weeping evergreens in your landscape or garden design. A few options to consider include but are not limited to:

Color with Flowers

A lot of weeping evergreens, like pines or willows, offer pretty green backdrops. So, you’ll want to introduce pops of colors with flowers. Unless you pick out flowers that love shade, you’ll want to plant them slightly away from the tree but make sure there’s a connection. For example, you could plant them in front of the tree by slightly off-center.

Groundcover Under the Canopy

You may find yourself landscaping under the tree’s canopy. You don’t have to be careful to pick plants with different textures in this location because they won’t be visible. The key is to pick out plants that love the shade. White trillium and Jerusalem sage grow on the forest floor natively, so they’re great groundcover for under your weeping evergreen.

In-Ground Water Feature

It’s common to plant weeping evergreens near in-ground water features, like a stream or pond. Putting them here gives you a pretty woodlawn effect, and you’ll want your water feature near the tree so that the branches drape over the surface. If you’re going to install a pond, consider adding a submerged fountain that creates spray arcs in the nearby water.

Lawn Accent Pieces Near the Tree

One way to draw more attention to your weeping evergreen is to install accent pieces around it. Things like statues, birdbaths, or a water fountain work very well. Take a while to play with the placement to create a unique look. For example, maybe you choose to tuck a stone statue into the tree’s weeping branches or you put a water feature in the background.

Accent Pieces by Geoff Whalan / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Pathway Around the Tree

Because these trees create a living shield, they can convey a sense of mystery. For this reason, adding a meandering pathway through them can be a charming way to draw attention to your tree. The pathway should feature gentle curves to create this ambiance. If the branches are far enough off of the ground, you may have the path running right under them. You want your paving to be as naturalistic as possible, like simply compacting the ground. If you do want pavers, go for natural landscape stones.

Rock Garden

If you want to create a forest effect, consider designing and implementing a rock garden to complement the weeping evergreen. Pick an odd number of large rocks to install right by the tree. Plant around the rocks with the end goal of your tree providing the backdrop to your garden so it looks like the plants or flowers grew there naturally.

Bottom Line

Weeping evergreens, while not that common, are accessible. They can add so much to your landscape while requiring very little maintenance. They grow in a huge range of planting zones, and they’re tolerant of various soil types, so picking out one or two to star in your garden is an easy task.