Cedrus atlantica var. glauca – Blue Atlas Cedar
Years ago when I was green in the Green Business, a dear man asked me for a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. He swore it was the ugliest, most pathetic thing when young. And then it became The Most Beautiful Tree In The World.
It was a Blue Atlas Cedar. Everything we call a cedar – isn’t. This is.
Close to twenty years ago a particularly vicious Nashville winter nearly wiped out the local population of Atlas Cedars. Many actually survived but were ripped up and destroyed the following spring because they recovered so slowly. Patience is a virtue. The remaining Blue Atlas Cedars (see one on Estes Rd. or one at Cheekwood) are now magnificent. Awe inspiring Beautiful. And really, really blue.
This is a big tree. Up to 100 feet tall – easily 60’ tall in this area. In middle age it is a full, perfect, graceful blue pyramid. In old age it is flat topped, spreading – and fascinating. You just have to get through its gawky extreme youth.
Nothing is more blue, not even Blue Spruce. And unlike Blue Spruce, Blue Atlas Cedars are soft and graceful – they dance in the wind. Like all good evergreens, give it a great deal of room.

Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’ – Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar
Perhaps I should list this under shrubs. It certainly is not a large tree like a Weeping Willow. It writhes and trails and cascades and flows.
It is exceedingly beautiful.

Magnolia grandiflora – Southern Magnolia, Bull Bay
When I was a child we sang, “Build me more stately mansions, Oh, my soul” and, being the pagan that I am, I thought of Magnolias.
Magnolias are magnificent, aristocratic, and so Southern, Eudora Welty could not have existed without them. In Nashville they are virtually pest free. They have survived horrendous weather. Minus 17º did not kill them. They thrive in heat. They grow much faster with regular water, but easily, survive drought once established.
This tree has huge, dark green, stiff leaves, sometimes with a felt-like, golden brown back. The flowers, scented of lemon and the South, are the size of a child’s face – and nearly as beautiful. Fruits are open, spilling, to expose shiny, bright red seeds. There is no better Christmas decoration.
Like all big evergreens, Magnolias need room. A small city yard can be completely devoured by one magnolia. In old central Nashville there are lots where the Magnolia is probably worth more than the house.
Magnolias will grow in full sun or in a great deal of shade.
Excellent cultivars include:
‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’
‘D. D. Blanchard’
‘Little Gem’ – great! small! I have used this as a tall hedge at my own home. It gets (maybe) 20’ tall, dense, and blooms without ceasing. I love it.

Picea abies – Norway Spruce
The trouble with many needled evergreens, spruce, hemlock, etc. – in Nashville is it’s just too hot. Most needled evergreen like cool mountains, not hot, humid river bottom. So stress will strike most spruce.
In my experience, Norway Spruce copes better than other sorts. It is a large, dark green evergreen, with long, graceful branches which, at least through middle age, are full to the ground. The branches curve gracefully with a peculiar little flip at the end. As the tree ages, the large main branches develop drooping side branches which begin to resemble a shaggy beast – perhaps a musk ox?
I like this tree. Without a doubt, I should never have mentioned a musk ox.
I have for years put lights on one in my front yard for Christmas. No more graceful Christmas tree could be imagined. The neighborhood children love it.
Norway Spruce will get about 60’ high, half that in width. It grows fast for a spruce, probably o foot and a half a year with good care.
Other spruce to consider are:
Picea omorilea – Serbian Spruce
Picea orientalis – Oriental Spruce
Both are much more difficult to locate than Norway Spruce.

Pinus – Pines
For a lot of reasons, pines have a hard time in Nashville. There are some beautiful old examples of Pinus strobes, White Pine, but there are also many dead ones.
Oh, well. They’re cheap and they grow fast.
Pinus thungergii, Japanese Black Pine, can be beautiful. I particularly like “Thunderhead”, a fat dwarf with shiny white candles against almost black-green foliage.
Pinus flexilis, Limber Pine, has knowledgeable Nashville advocates. I honestly don’t know it well enough to judge.