Planting A Christmas Tree

[Nyboy]

In my front yard is some kind of conifer I call a pine. It is about size of Rockafeller center tree, it towers over my house. I have a lighted start about 3/4 way to top. I want to plant another conifer in front yard, that I could cover in lights. Looking for a zone 5 heavy clay tree that has a natural xmas tree shape. I like blue spruce, any other suggestions ? Willn't plant till spring.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how they grow in your area, but I've always liked a red cedar for a Christmas tree. They are fairly slow growing so they are not going to be a good commercial Christmas tree but they smell nice, normally have very thick branches and needles, and have a good shape.

Red cedar is what we always used. Mom would send me out to get a Christmas tree. I'd select a fairly big one and take the top five or six feet for our tree. The rest I'd trim the branches off and let it cure to be used as a fence post. It was mostly sapwood, not heartwood, but it still made a nice replacement post for emergency fence repair. That top part usually had a real nice shape if it had grown out in a field instead of in a woody area. Smaller trees weren't usually quite as well shaped.

 

[Nyboy]

Need to stay away from cedar, planting apple trees ,cedar apple rust big problem.

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh, darn, I liked Ridges suggestion, Cedars are among my favorite trees.

There's Fraser fir, they're grown a lot for Christmas trees, but they do grow kind of slow. Nice natural shape though, kind of tall and narrow.

I'll keep thinking....

 

[digitS']

NyBoy, a lot of these "Christmas things" have to do with personal memories.

When Dad & Mom, along with DB & I, all moved back together in northern Idaho, they bought a Christmas tree. It was planted into the cream separator. This was probably when I finally realized that Dad wasn't going to have that dairy, after all .

That blue spruce went out on the lawn next year. It was decorated for several years after that ... there was no climbing that spruce tree after it was tall, however .

It's a great big thing now! I hope it will always be around but I haven't seen it in several years. Whenever I do see it again, I will be reminded of that first Christmas, when we were, all 4 of us, back together .

If you have those associations with a pine, by all means, plant another! Any evergreen, any tree, can be a Christmas tree ... (of course, research may be holiday fun, too .)

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Those spruces can be very prickly can't they Steve? Really uncomfortable to try to decorate!

There's a tree that has that blue look that a blue spruce has, but is a little easier to hug. It's a Concolor fir. Some are bluer than others, it's a genetic thing, but they are beautiful trees, and the ones that aren't as blue are still a gorgeous silvery green color.

We have a Grand fir in the front that grew wild on the property and I love that tree! It's dark green with silver under the needles and when the wind blows it's two toned. The cut branches smell lovely, I always trim a few this time of year and bring in the house.
A wind storm last year busted the top 6 feet off, but it's not too noticeable, and I can see one of the upper side branches taking the leader position now.

 

[Nyboy]

Didn't think about pickly, thats a good point.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah if you don't have red cedar growing wild around you, you would not want to plant any near apple trees. I never thought of that because that's never been a problem for me. If they are growing wild all around you, what difference does it make to have one more?

Cedar certainly brings back childhood memories.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Musser Forests in PA has a large selections of conifers, some of which could be used as Christmas trees. There's Balsam Fir, Canaan Fir, Concolor Fir...

Here's their catalog in a pdf.
http://musserforests.com/Downloads/Musser Fall 14.pdf
All of the conifers are on the first two pages.

 

[Nyboy]

Wish Musser's had photos of the trees.