Christmas trees

There are many different types of Christmas tree and many different connotations depending on which type of tree you consider will suit you best. Things like:-

Do you want to grow the tree afterwords?

Do you need a narrow tree because of space?

Can I keep a tree outside?

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There are many more criteria that you may be considering before embarking on the purchase of a real Christmas tree.

Having spent many years working with Christmas trees, both in the fields where they are grown and in the retail sector, I hope to impart some useful tips and information to you to help you make the right decision.

In order to grow a tree outdoors after Christmas, you need to have chosen the right tree and acclimatised the tree correctly to be successful.

When you see containerised, this means that the tree has been growing in the field and literary pulled out of the ground with some roots and put into a container or pot.

When you see container grown, this means the tree has never been in the field and literary has been grown by skilled nurseryman.

Picea abies or Norway Spruce.  We would call this the traditional Christmas tree for this country.  If you wanted to have the Norway Spruce growing on in your back garden then it is better to buy a small one, that is container grown and not introduce it to your sitting room at all.  As soon as you take a tree that prefers -30 and snow all over it indoors, where it's plus 30 with radiators and other forms of heating on the go, that acclimatising the tree to grow after Christmas is difficult.  Most people who succeed in growing this type of tree on after Christmas have only bought it in and decorated it for a couple of nights either side of Christmas Day and put it in the coolest part of the house.  Man-made double glazing central heating and insulation has created an incredibly dry atmosphere, which is fine to you and me but not so good for plants that are used to moist air.  The purpose of roots attached to these trees over a certain height is purely to help you water it more while it is inside.  This will not help the tree if it has been inside for weeks, lost nearly all its needles and been sprayed with needle holding spray.  If you buy a sawn tree of this ilk, it is best to saw a couple of inches off the bottom when getting it home, before putting it in its stand.  It is always a good idea to stand it upright in the stand while it is still in the net, apart from the bottom piece of the net, which you need to break away from the stump.

Abies nordmaniana or the Nordman Fir is becoming more and more popular as a successful needle holding tree.  The growers often pinch this variety out to stop it becoming too wide and to help make it a tight cone shape.  If this tree is not container grown, then there is no chance of growing it on afterwards.  All of these types of tree are cut, put in a net and transported straight to the retailer.  These needle holding trees still require a couple of inches to be cut off the stump or bottom of the tree before offering it into a stand to help it take up moisture while being inside your house.  The needles are dark on the top and silvery underneath, the bark is grey coloured and the tree gives a slightly citrus fragrance to a room.  Most are grown in Scotland and Denmark as the colder the climate, the slower the growth, and the tighter the habit of the plant.  A 6-foot tree would take eight years or so in the field and so it is a more expensive tree to produce than that of the Norway spruce, but it's needle holding ability is far superior.

Pseudotsuga menziesii or the Douglas Fir is in my opinion the most fantastically fragrant, soft needled, pale green Christmas tree on offer.  Again it is deep rooted and therefore to buy one for planting outside, it must be container grown to succeed.  The drawback of this type of Christmas tree is that it requires trimming while being grown to make a cone shape and therefore often the tips of the plant don't look as natural.  With clever decoration this really is a fantastic tree holding most of its needles easily through the Christmas period, but as with all these trees it is best not to put them near radiators and cut a couple of inches off the stump end when you get it home before putting in a water holding stand, and make sure you keep the stand topped up with water.  A good trick is to score the trunk vertically several times around it on the section that is going in the stand to help it take up the moisture.  If you wanted to grow this variety in a container and he started with container grown, then this in my opinion would be the easiest one to give it a haircut each year and it would survive in a half barrel for quite some time.

Abies fraseri or the Frazer Fir is very similar to the Nordman but requires a lot more work in the field to get it into a decent tree.  It definitely is a beautiful tree when the growers get it right, all the rest on this one is the same as the Nordman Fir.

Abies procera is also known as the Noble Fir, which is very silvery blue in appearance and its needles are slightly curved upwards.  This again has a very deep root system and therefore if success is to be had by growing one it must be container grown.  This variety certainly has plenty of hanging space for decorations but the spacing between the branches is a lot denser than that of the Nordman fir and again some of the can look clipped, but with careful thought it can be decorated superbly and it`s trimmed ends would not be noticed.

Pinus sylvestris is the Scots pine and it's becoming more popular as an alternative Christmas tree in this country.  It is popular in America.  The piney fragrance is gorgeous and some growers have mastered growing the pine to make it a fantastic option.  Again this is deep rooted and needs to be container grown if you are to succeed with it growing afterwards and all the usual things of taking a couple of inches off the bottom before putting it into its water holding stand would apply on field growing stock.

Planting live trees is responsible thing to do as for every one that is taken from the field, another two are planted. Therefore, this is just like a farmed crop, but over a much longer period of time compared to a field of wheat.

If you have the space then growing one of these magnificent trees could be fun, but just remember, most get pretty big with time, so the option of planting one into a  half barrel or similar sized container is sensible.  Depending on a variety you take on, you could, with care keep them much more compact than they would be if you left them to just grow, at their own rate.  These trees like exposure and would definitely benefit from an open position within the garden. Next week an article on artificial Christmas trees.

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