Why are Christmas Trees like Cut Flowers?

Do you know why are Christmas trees like cut flowers?

It may sound odd, but read on, and all will become clear – and be of some help too in keeping your Christmas tree looking good.

We are, of course talking about real Christmas trees, not artificial ones. Some people like to buy theirs as soon as they see them advertised, which might be mid-November. Others will go out to choose theirs around Advent Sunday, which is the last Sunday of November or first of December. For some households, the Winter Solstice is the key date for bringing an evergreen tree in to the house. Then there are those who buy their tree on Christmas Eve.

Those of you who are not fond of the Christmas, Winter Solstice and Yule celebrations may wonder why having a needle–dropping plant in the house for four weeks could be seen as a good thing. I mean, some people keep their tree up until Twelfth Night, January 6^th. How on earth do they manage to have any needles still on the tree and not in the carpet or walked all over the house for 6 weeks?

I’ve discussed the pros and cons of different Christmas tree species in Choosing your real Christmas tree (link below). But for example, the Norway spruce, Picea abies, has that lovely resinous, “piney” aroma and a tendency to drop needles as soon as you look at it. Which brings us back to the question –

Why are Christmas Trees like Cut Flowers?

This is where I’m talking about most commonly bought type of real Christmas tree: a cut tree. Those you see stacked up in a garden centre; outside a florist’s shop or farm gate. But you can also buy them from a specialist grower and the Forestry Commission. You should buy from a reputable source so that you can be sure where the tree came from, ie that it wasn’t illegally cut down.

Let’s say you’re after a six foot cut tree. If you from a reputable source, then it will be a farmed resource, by which I mean that it was grown specifically to be cut for Christmas. If you live in Britain we recommend checking out the British Christmas Tree Growers Association and Forestry Commission for suppliers of British and UK grown trees, both cut and container grown.

These trees are a farmed resource will have been grown from seed for up to eight years in the open before being cut for the Christmas tree market. Your tree will have been fed, watered and probably pruned to get that good traditional shape; lovingly nurtured, even. From a ‘green’ perspective, it will have been soaking up a lot of carbon dioxide in that time, so this should balance some of the carbon outlay in transporting it from the field to your home. Depending where you go to get your British grown tree, you can sometimes chose exactly which tree you would like in advance of it being cut; while it’s still growing in the field.

A bunch of flowers or a house plant?

The other type of real tree buy is a rooted one. This still has its roots and is generally marketed as a ‘living’ Christmas tree. It will continue to grow and you can keep it in its pot not just for the Festive Season but for quite a few years, although you will need to gradually repot it into a larger container. I would be wary of planting it in the ground unless you have a very large garden – they are forest trees and get very big!

Think of this type of real Christmas tree as much treasured house plant and treat it as such.

NB : Although generally grown in the pot, they are more sometimes grown in the ground, dug up and potted for the Christmas market. It’s a good idea to check if the tree is container grown or containerised. The latter may have had its roots cut when it was dug up so it fitted in the pot. This makes it a bit of a halfway house between cut flowers and a houseplant, as it will have lost some of its ability to easily take up water.

Why are Christmas Trees like Cut Flowers? Looking after your Tree

Your cut Christmas tree is a not so much a tree as a bunch of lilies from the florist. Let me explain…

Trees have a vascular system that draws water up from the roots; and there will be nutrients contained within the water. This water is transported through the tree, transmitted to the branches and ultimately to the needles. Those needles are the tree’s leaves, which have been adapted over thousands of years to suit the habitat that pine and fir trees –conifers – grow in.

Christmas trees are evergreens, meaning they always have leaves and so have high water demands throughout the year. The narrow, resinous leaves have a reduced area for water loss through evaporation. But like the leaves in a bunch of cut flowers, the pine needles will wilt and die if they’re not given enough water. And that’s up to us to provide, having cut off the tree’s roots.

When you first bring your Christmas tree home: –

Take it straight into the garden and slice a section off the bottom of the trunk, just like you would cut the dried stem end from a bunch of flowers. This helps the tree to take up water.

Then remove the net the tree was wrapped in and give it a shake; the branches will start to return to their original lushness fairly quickly.
Next put your Christmas tree in a bucket of water so it can have a good long drink for at least a couple of hours to freshen up. Warm water – not boiling! – is preferable as this helps keep the sap soft so the tree can more easily take up the water.

Keeping the tree outside or in a cool conservatory for as long as you can will help reduce the needle dropping and overall lifespan.

Bringing the cut Christmas tree inside: –

When you’re ready to bring your tree indoors, do not to place it near a radiator or fire! Not only does this dry out the tree really quickly, but it also poses a fire risk.

display it in a stand that has a water reservoir.
being sure to keep this topped up, just like a vase of flowers

Some sources swear by adding flat lemonade or cut flower crystals to help reduce needle drop. Others say tap water only. As we keep our tree for about six weeks, I do add some nutrients a couple of times just to keep it going in this unnatural situation.

Watering is essential

Whether it’s a cut tree or a rooted one, I aim to generally use water from the water butt as I live in a hard water area. If we return to our question: why are Christmas trees like cut flowers? it makes sense as to why I do this. But it’s not critical and life can be busy enough over the Festive Season. I’m one of those people who fill a watering can from the water butt and bring it in to warm up to room temperature and then use it to water my houseplants, so its not an extra chore to include the Christmas tree and cut flowers generally into this routine. But yes, I do sometimes use tap water instead!

For preference use cool to room temperature water. This is more easily taken up by your cut tree as it will be used to the ambient temperature in the room and it therefore reduces stress. However watering is the key thing here, as a cut tree can use up to 2 pints of water per day for each inch of diameter on the cut end.

And finally… Why are Christmas Trees like Cut Flowers?

Would you buy a bunch of flowers where the leaves were browning off and the flowers wilting? Probably not unless they were a real bargain (there are ways of giving them a short-term boost).

So why would you buy a cut tree that was already losing needles? A quick test when you’re choosing your tree is the ‘pull test’. This is where you gently pull on a shoot with your thumb and fingers. If the tree is fresh, you should not have any green needles come off in your hand. A few brown needles coming off is fine as they’re dead anyway. Oh yes, a tree with lots of brown needles isn’t a good purchase either…

For those of you who like Christmas – why not download our eBook “Christmas and Yule in Your Garden“?

Or 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 infomation on Plews Gardening Lessons and Courses

For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the Christmas themed 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