How to Choose Your Real Christmas Tree

How to choose your real Christmas tree – tips to help you buy the right tree for your house and maybe for your garden too.

Now it may be reassuring for you to know that, whilst they’re not carbon neutral, a real Christmas tree is more eco-friendly than an artificial tree. Recent research suggests that a 7 foot cut tree has about 60% less impact on the environment than a good quality artificial tree that you keep for seven years.

The argument would seem to be that live, cut Christmas trees are the ‘greenest’ option, taking in to consideration the amount of carbon dioxide they absorb whilst growing.

Of course, it may not be practical for you to have a real tree, see blog link below for other tips.

Firstly

And this may sound obvious, but just in case…

Do you know where your Christmas tree is going? (or trees, if you have more than one) Get out a tape measure and discover how much space you have – height, width and depth.

Your tree should be shorter than the ceiling to allow clearance for your angel, fairy or star: a squashed fairy is not a good look. Also remember to include the height of the stand or pot in your calculations.

Allow for space around the tree so that it is not pushed up against the walls or furniture as that’s a waste of all those lush spreading branches. Where space is tight, you’ll need to look for a one of the naturally narrower species of Christmas tree so as not to spoil the effect.

padme choosing cut christmas tree, border collie

christmas tree, glass beads, chimney pot, unusual containers for planting, quirky planters, container gardens

olive tree decorated with christmas lights, outdoor christmas tree decorations

How to Choose Your Real Christmas Tree – Options

There are four options or types of real Christmas tree that you could have. These are:

cut tree
potted tree
container or pot grown
rental tree

There are plenty of sustainably grown local and UK grown Christmas trees in all these categories. For example, look for those which are members of the British Christmas Tree Growers’ Association and the Forestry Commission.

Cut Christmas trees

These are the ones we see stacked up in nurseries, garden centres, near railway stations, etc. There are some Christmas tree farms where you choose which tree and they cut it up for you there and then, so you’ll know it’s really fresh. And in some places, you can even dig one up yourself. Yes, really, dig up your own Christmas Tree!

Potted Christmas tree, Container or Pot grown

These are often chosen in preference to cut trees as being less likely to drop needles all over the carpet. The differences are as follows –

A potted tree will have been dug up from where it was growing in the ground and potted up as a bare root specimen. If you gently lift by the trunk you may feel the tree coming away from the soil and pot. There is not necessarily anything nothing wrong with these trees and they may last longer in your house than a cut tree. However if you were planning to keep it for a number of years, be aware that there could well be root damage, so check.

Whilst a container or pot grown tree has been in its pot probably since it was a sapling. Rented trees will come under this category. These trees can be a good purchase if you’d like to have the same tree for a number of years, putting it into progressively larger pots.

Rental Christmas tree

And if you don’t want the hassle of spending a weekend every year finding a tree, why not rent one? You can often have the same tree every year but someone else looks after it from January to November.

How to Choose Your Real Christmas Tree – pros and cons of the different species

Nordmann Fir

probably the most widely sold ‘non-drop’ tree
good needle retention
wide, conical shape
reasonable spread of branches
soft, wide, dark green needles

Fraser Fir

good needle retention
slimmer than Nordmann
top of the tree is well covered with branches
soft, wide, dark green needles
balsam scent

Douglas Fir

good needle retention
light green, soft, relatively long needles
pyramid shape
citrus scent

Scots Pine

good needle retention; probably the best of all the real Christmas tree species
very long needles
pine scent

Blue Spruce

worth tracking down for its silver-blue needles
fairly good needle retention
lovely scent

Norway Spruce

a traditional favourite
will drop needles when a cut tree; much less so as a container grown tree
it has a real Christmas tree shape
good resinous scent

Looking after Your Real Christmas Tree

General care

Keep your tree as cool as possible –

let the tree slowly acclimatise to your warm house. For example, by putting it in a cool, conservatory when you first bring it home
cut the bottom couple of inches off the trunk. The reason for this is that that the sap that’s leaked onto the cut will reseal this wound and make it difficult for the tree to take up water
avoid standing your tree next to a radiator or on underfloor heating

keep your tree watered –

depending on the size of the tree and how warm the room, is your tree may need up to three pints of water daily
adding flat lemonade, bicarbonate of soda or flat tonic water to the reservoir seems to help keep the tree happy. However, different tree species in different positions (cool room, warm room) may respond differently to these ‘additives’. See which your tree likes best in the position it’s in
make sure its easy to get to the tree to water it and not the presents around it

other tips –

do you have dogs, cats, small children or teenagers and will they rub against the tree, climb on it, re-hang the decorations? If so, going for one of the non-drop trees would be a good idea.
sturdiness of both the tree and the stand or pot is also important

Remember – cut trees should be treated like cut flowers – this will reduce needle drop and prolong the life of the tree over the festivities. See the blog link below for more tips

and finally

Hopefully I’ve given you some useful pointers on how to choose your real Christmas tree. And I’ll be dropping you some more tips on what to do with both cut and potted trees when we get to New Year.

If you’re looking for a Christmas gift with a difference, why not ask about our bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden? We can help with both gardening basics and more ‘expert tasks’, carry out worm and other experiments and for example, also show you how to plan a wildlife friendly ornamental border. Click here for a free PDF download with more information.

For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.

And on that note, you can have a peek at my new garden on Instagram @spitfiresandslowworms and for those of you who prefer Facebook – Spitfires and Slow Worms

And for those of you who like Christmas – why not download our eBook “Christmas and Yule in Your Garden“? Based on the seasonal blogs it has addtiional content and photos.