(KRT) – It takes years for a forest to develop. Unless of course, it’s December, when instant urban forests appear all over town.
These Christmas tree forests sprout up overnight at local nurseries and in the parking lots of malls and shopping centers.
While everyone wants the perfect Christmas tree, nature doesn’t make every tree perfect. Anyone who has looked over Christmas trees at the lots knows that the 31 million trees sold nationwide come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
“People think of Christmas trees as perfect triangles, but they’re usually not,” says Scott Snow, who runs the Christmas tree lot at Upton Gardens in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“The average person doesn’t go into a lot saying `I want a Noble fir,’ but they do know if they want a short- or long-needled tree,” says Joan Geiger, a spokeswoman for the National Christmas Tree Association. Most customers have a mental vision of the tree they want – and it has a lot to do with the type of Christmas trees they had as children.
People are buying a lot more than a tree, says Steve Spaulding, a forestry and landscaping consultant who has been selling Christmas trees for 13 years. “They’re recapturing the past. There’s a lot of tradition in Christmas trees. For some, a Christmas tree is a non-negotiable item-you’ve just got to have one.”
Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states, but the prime producers are Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Prior to 1950, most family Christmas trees came from the forest; today more than 90 percent are plantation grown. More than a million acres in the United States are devoted to Christmas tree production.
There have been changes over the past 40-odd years. People tend not to want as severely shaped trees as they did earlier; they want a somewhat more natural looking – although still well-shaped – tree, Geiger says. Geiger is typical of the average consumer -she likes a well-shaped tree, but doesn’t like to see the pruning cuts.
Any tree can be a Christmas tree, but the most popular trees nationally are the balsam fir, Noble fir, Scotch pine, Douglas fir and the Rolls Royce of all Christmas trees, the Fraser fir.
Here’s a quick tree primer.
o The Fraser fir is considered to be the top tannenbaum because it has a traditional Christmas tree fragrance and strong branches. Or, as Geiger says, “it has good ornament-weight capabilities, for those who like to pile on a whole slew of ornaments.”
“About 99.99 percent of the Frasers come from just a few counties in the Carolinas, but now we’re just starting to get some from Montana and Idaho,” says Spaulding, who was a Colorado state forester for 16 years. Because of the limited growing area and trucking costs, the Fraser firs can cost up to $80 a tree.
o Another popular tree is the Noble fir. Spaulding introduced them at his tree lots about eight years ago and “couldn’t sell one to save my life.” Now they’ve caught on – not only here but across the country and are becoming increasingly difficult to find.
Like Fraser firs, Noble firs are true firs, meaning that they have a heavy, waxy cuticle over the needles that helps retard moisture loss. Noble firs have stout branches, which can support the heavier ornaments, are fragrant and very traditional looking, with silvery, blue-green needles, Spaulding says. Most Noble firs come from Oregon and Washington and cost only slightly less than the Frasers.
o Grand firs also are good sellers. They are full, bushy trees, with a fragrance similar to crushed citrus. “No one believes me when I tell them that, but it’s the only thing that describes it,” Spaulding says. Grand firs are a long-lasting tree; Schubert says he usually gets a Grand fir as a Christmas tree, and if he keeps it outdoors in the shade, he can use it again in his display at the annual spring home and garden show.
o Scotch pines are readily available as Christmas trees. They are fast growers and are tolerant of a range of soil conditions, moisture and climatic extremes; as a result they are less expensive than some of the firs, going for $20-$50.
A drawback to the Scotch pine is that the needles turn yellow in winter. Many people mistakenly believe this is a sign the tree is drying out. The degree of yellowness depends on the seed source; some trees turn more yellow than others. As a result, many of the Scotch pines are sprayed green to disguise the yellowness.
Trees on cut-your-own sites tend not to be as well-shaped as those found at commercial lots. “People who cut their own trees tend to be doing it for the experience – the whole atmosphere – rather than for the tree itself,” Schubert says.
Christmas tree lot sellers have seen it all – people seeking “the perfect tree;” those looking for matching trees; trees that look “just like last year’s.”
Some people want their tree flocked (several nurseries have facilities on-premise to do it); a few want theirs sprayed with a fire-retardant. (This is optional for homeowners; mandatory for trees going into a commercial building.)
Even when the economy is slow, Christmas tree sales are steady, Geiger says.
“People may not buy a tree because they are going to be out of town. But they don’t not buy one if money is tight, they buy a smaller one instead. Christmas trees are so much a part of Christmas.”
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