Oh Christmas Tree

 tree #4

The Christmas Tree, one of our most beloved Christmas icons. They come in all shapes, sizes, & colors, glittered or not glittered, living or, well, nonliving, lit in color or plain white lights, LED or no LED and are decorated to a "t" in houses, offices, and stores all across the country. In the midst of a graying and browning winter landscape, they are a fresh pop of evergreen sitting in our living rooms lit up for all our family to see. Even our least horticulturally inclined neighbors, who don't work in their yard all year, take the time and sap fighting effort to bring a living specimen plant into their home during the Christmas season

 tree # 5

 

This season, I have had the joy and privilege of decorating almost a dozen Christmas trees for various clients and friends. It truly is a highlight in the world of design to help give these icons of our Christmas traditions some personality. Having your head in a Christmas tree for more hours than you can count, makes you really stop and think on this tradition of ours; how integral it is to our season and what joy and beauty a tree can bring. So, in keeping with December's blog theme of Holiday Horticulture Traditions, I give you a glimpse into the tradition of the Christmas tree. 

# didn't get done until last week because it is my own

The History of the Christmas Tree:

• 1510 – The first written record of a decorated Christmas Tree comes from Riga, Latvia. Men of the local merchants’ guild decorated a tree with artificial roses, danced around it in the marketplace and then set fire to it. The rose was used for many year and is considered to be a symbol for the Virgin Mary.
• 1530 – There is record from Alsace, France (then Germany territory) that trees were sold in the marketplace and brought home and set up undecorated. Laws limited the size to “8 shoe lengths” (slightly over 4 feet).
• 1600s – By the 17th century, it was common in Germany to decorate Christmas Trees with apples. This practice was a holdover from the 14th and 15th centuries when evergreen boughs hung with apples were the only prop used in the “miracle plays” that were performed at the churches on December 24. December 24 was Adam & Eve’s Day in the early Christian calendar, and the plays were used as ways of teaching the Bible to a largely illiterate population.
• 1700s – In parts of Austria and Germany, evergreen tips were brought into the home and hung top down from the ceiling. They were often decorated with apples, gilded nuts and red paper strips. Edible ornaments became so popular on Christmas Trees that they were often called “sugartrees.” The first accounts of using lighted candles as decorations on Christmas Trees come from France in the 18th century.
• 1800s – The Christmas Tree was introduced in the United States by German settlers. It rapidly grew from tabletop size to floor-to-ceiling.
• 1851 – Christmas Trees began to be sold commercially in the United States. They were taken at random from the forests.
• 1853 – Franklin Pierce is credited with bringing the first Christmas Tree to the White House.
• Late 1800s – The first glass ornaments were introduced into the United States, again from Germany. The first ones were mostly balls, but later chains of balls, toys and figures became more common.
• Around 1883 – Sears, Roebuck & Company began offering the first artificial Christmas trees – 33 limbs for $.50 and 55 limbs for $1.00.
• 1900s – Due to overharvesting, the natural supply of evergreens began to be decimated. Conservationists became alarmed, and many magazines began to encourage people to substitute an artificial “snow” covered tree, consisting of a branch of a deciduous tree wrapped in cotton.
• 1901 – The first Christmas Tree farm was started in 1901 when W.V. McGalliard planted 25,000 Norway spruce on his farm in New Jersey. Also in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt tried to stop the practice of having Christmas Trees out of concern about the destruction of forests. His two sons didn’t agree and enlisted the help of conservationist Gifford Pinchot to persuade the president that, done properly, the practice was not harmful to the forests.
• 1930s – President Franklin D. Roosevelt started a Christmas Tree farm on his estate in Hyde Park, New York.
• 1966 – The National Christmas Tree Association began its time-honored tradition of having the Grand Champion grower present a Christmas Tree to the First Lady for display in the Blue Room of the White House. That year, Howard Pierce of Black River Falls, Wisconsin, presented a tree to President Lyndon Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.
• Today – Approximately 25-30 million Real Christmas Trees are sold each year in the United States. Almost all of these come from Christmas Tree plantations. 

 http://www.realchristmastrees.org/dnn/Education/HistoryofChristmasTrees.aspx

Types of Trees: 

 

As it turns out, there are more types of trees than simply living or artificial; there is actual species variation to living Christmas trees. I, although an avid observer of all things landscape, had never given this much thought until it came up in conversation a few weeks ago. Our family had always just had a Douglas Fir (until the dreadful day of my mother bringing home an artificial one to prevent the gift of the Delta sinus infections that followed the week after Christmas), so I assumed everyone just had a Douglas Fir or an artificial species.  There are actually 5 common Genus for Christmas trees: Fir (Abies spp.), Pine (Pinus spp.), Spruce (Picea spp.), Cypress (Cupressus spp.), & Cedar (Juniperus spp.). Here are some highlighted characteristics of some of the most common species. For more extensive information, visit the website of The National Christmas Tree Association.

The Firs: 

• Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea)
• Dense, dark green pyramidal growth
• 40-60' in height
• First described in 1768
• Named for resinous blisters found in the bark 
•  Found growing in northern Alberta to Labrador Canada, southward to Pennsylvania 

  

  photo courtesy of: gaelanmiddleton.edublogs.org

•  Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
•  Not related to true firs (note the Latin name)
• Bluish, green needles radiate on all sides of the branches with sweet fragrance when crushed
• 70-250' in height
• Found growing in central California, western Oregon and Washington, parts of the Rockies and extends north to Alaska
• Grows under a wide variety of environments from extremely dry, low elevation sites to moist sites
• One of the top produced Christmas trees in the country 

photo courtesy of: matthesevergreenfarm.com

•  Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri)
• Branches turn slightly upward with dark bluish, green needles with 2 silvery white bands on the lower surface
• Named for John Fraser, a Scot botanist who explored the Southern Appalachian mountains in the late 18th century
•  80' in height
• Pleasant scent
• Found growing  naturally only at elevations above 4,500 feet in the Southern Appalachian Mountains from southwest Virginia, through western North Carolina, and into eastern Tennessee.  



photo courtesy of: mcclurestreenursery.com

•  Grand Fir (Abies grandis)
• Dark green needles in two distinct rows
• Can reach 300' in height, one of the tallest growing Firs
•  Found growing from British Columbia inland to Montana and south into northern California at low to mid elevations
• A major Christmas tree species for Montana & Idaho  

photo courtesy of: carnationtreefarm.com

• Noble Fir (Abies procera)
• Dark bluish-green needles turn upward, exposing lower stiff branches
• Needles appear silver because of 2 rows of white stomata underneath
• Can reach 200' in the wild
• Found growing in the Siskiyou Mountains of northern California and the Cascade and Coastal ranges of Oregon and Washington

photo courtesy of: greenvalleychristmastrees.com

The Pines: 

• White Pine (Pinus strobus)
•  Soft flexible needles that are bluish-green in color
• Little aroma, which reportedly results in less allergic reactions (maybe we can have one of these in The Park)
• One of the most desirable Pine species in North America
• Can reach heights of 80'
• Found growing Newfoundland to Manitoba through the northern United States to northern and eastern Ohio and then southward along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia and South Carolina from sea level to 5,000' above sea level
• Not recommended for heavy ornaments

photo courtesy of: bluebirdtrees.com

• Sctoch Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
• Bright green needles that don't fall when dry (so little to no vacuuming)
• An introduced species for the purpose of producing Christmas Trees
• The most common tree in the United States
• Found growing natively in Europe and Asia, planted in the Eastern United States for Christmas Tree production
• Can reach heights of 125' in its native range



photo courtesy of: maytreeenterprises.com

• Virginia Pine (Pinus virginiana)
•  Dense foliage with twisted needles that occur in pairs 
•  Needles are much shorter than those of other Pines
• The most common christmas Tree in the South
• Found growing in central Pennsylvania and extends southward into northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Bounded on the east by the Atlantic coast, it extends west into Ohio, southern Indiana and Tennessee.
• Can reach heights of 100' 
• Provides excellent nesting conditions for woodpeckers (so check your tree before bringing it in your house)  



photo courtesy of: bluebirdtrees.com

The Spruces:

• Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens)
• Bluish-gray in color
• Bad odor, but excellent symmetry and needle retention
•  Found growing in Western Wyoming and eastern Idaho southward through central Colorado and Central Utah. The southern limits are New Mexico and Arizona at elevetion from 6,000-11,000'
• Can reach heights between 65-115'



photo courtesy of: sweetvalleyfarms.com

•  Norway Spruce (Picea abies)
• Dark green, triangular in shape with poor needle retention
• Found growing in Europe, growing from Scandinavia to the Balkans to the Alps at elevations of 3,300 feet to 7,500 feet.
• Can reach 215' in height in native environments, but rarely reaches over 100' when planted in the United States  

• 

  photo courtesy of: fastgrowingtreesnow.com

•  White Spruce (Picea glauca)
• Short, stiff bluish green needles that are excellent for ornaments, but smell terrible when crushed
•  Found growing from Newfoundland to Alaska and southward to the United States in New England and the Lake States at sea level to 5600 ft. in elevation. 
• Can reach 80-140' in height



photo courtesy of: conawaypinehaven.com

 The Cypress: 

•  Arizona Cypress (Cupressus arizonica)
• Steeple shaped tree with pale greenish-gray color
• Tiny, plentiful needles
• Can reach heights of 80'
• Found growing in west Texas, northwest Mexico, southwest New Mexico, south California, and southern Arizona. It has been successfully grown in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Florida panhandle, Tennessee, and in the Carolinas. (Largest range for any Cypress)



photo courtesy of: kinseyfamilyfarm.com

• Leyland Cypress (Cupressuss x leylandii)
• Dark Greenish gray color, with flat planed foliage
• Does not produce sap
• The most popular Christmas Tree in the Southeast
• A non-naturally occuring cypress, it is a hybrid of  the Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) and Alaskan cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) developed by C.J Leyland
• Can be grown successfully in the Southeast, England, and New Zealand
• Can reach 138' in height



photo courtesy of: cairnsa.myweb.uga.edu

 The Cedars: 

• Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
•  Not a true Cedar, but actually a juniper 
• Dark shiny green color, pyramidal in shape
•  Found growing in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and in almost every state to their east, then northward to the southern Ontario and Quebec
• Slow growing, but can reach heights of 40'



photo courtesy of: meridian.k12.il.us

The Business of Trees: 

While this is the season for magic, our Christmas trees don't just magically appear at the nearest Christmas tree lot. Christmas tree production is a giant business and a huge part of our agricultural economy. Where we have rows of cotton, soybeans & rice in the Delta, other parts of the United States (Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington) have rows of our future Christmas memories growing in their countrysides. My dear friends and neighbors in Raleigh, Fred & Becky Farmer, introduced me to the business as they are part of a Christmas tree plantation in Avery County North Carolina. For 3 years in Raleigh, I did magically receive an Avery County Christmas tree. 

 Jack & I at the Farmer's Tree Farm in Avery County, NC 

 

Here are some facts & figures associated with the business of growing trees in the United States: 

•  350,000 : acres in Christmas tree production
• 25-30 million: Living Christmas trees sold every year
• 15,000: farms that grow Christmas trees
• 100,000: people employed by the Christmas tree industry
• 7 : Average number of years it takes to grow a Christmas tree   

Christmas tree farming is one of our more sustainable agricultural methods as live Christmas trees are both recyclable and renewable, and for every tree harvested, 1-3 seedlings are planted. 

 http://www.realchristmastrees.org/dnn/Education/QuickTreeFacts.aspx

While you may not have been as intimately involved with Christmas trees as I have this particular year, as Christmas Day approaches, do take a minute to notice, reflect and fully appreciate that bushel of evergreen in your living room. 

Merry Merry Christmas to you & yours! 

Brantley