When good plants go bad

Jekyll & Hyde
© 2005 Darcy Daniels

I came upon this amusing horticultural oddity today as I was out and about. The split personality of this small tree is an example of a dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’) that is reverting along its left side. This is easily prevented if the offending stems are cut away when the plant first shows signs of "alien" growth. In this case, this would have needed to happen quite awhile ago. This has been a long time coming ... a cautionary tale indeed.