Although we find Christmas tree alternatives intriguing here on AT, there is nothing quite as satisfying as a fresh Christmas tree to cheer up your home. If you have the yard space and inclination, you can select a living tree and lessen your environmental impact of this holiday season. Here are some trees that will thrive out West.
Sunset Magazine put together a guide for selecting the proper Christmas tree for your "zone".
Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
1. Alpine Fir
2. Deodar Cedar
3. Australian Black Pine
4. Douglas Fir
5. Giant Sequoia
6. Norway Spruce
Say you don't want a Christmas tree in your yard after the season is over? You might consider getting a living Christmas tree and then gifting it to a friend with ample land when you are through with it. If you are lucky enough to live around Portland, Oregon you can rent a living Christmas tree from The Original Living Christmas Tree Company. For $80 you can have a tree delivered to your home mid-December and picked up on January 2nd. I'd imagine there are other tree renal services elsewhere. If you know of any please post them in the comments!
(images: Sunset Magazine)
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i don't know about that. we have a little 3 foot tall artificial pink feather tree that definitely livens and cheers up our space.
Adopt a Christmas Tree (http://www.adoptachristmastree.com/) provides a similar service in San Diego, and Friends of the Urban Forest (http://www.fuf.net/) in San Francisco have potted Christmas trees that can be replanted after the holidays.
Christmas Trees are a CROP. The trees are planted to be harvested, and most tree farmers actually plant MORE trees each year than they sell (three to one on average). I fail to understand how buying a live tree will "lessen your environmental impact". Cut trees are renewable and recyclable. Sure, you could buy a potted tree. It's a nice idea, but in reality it will most likely die. Only about one in ten make it. If you really, really want to do something good for your environment wait until spring and plant a species of tree that you know will tolerate your conditions, and take care of it. I'm sorry for the rant...just want to dispel the myth that tree farmers are great big globe-warming meanies.
I snagged an adorable Norfolk Pine for $15 at Lowe's that looks great in my living room and, despite it's small size, holds a ton of light, shatterproof ornaments. I plan to transplant it to a larger pot after Christmas and keep it on my deck after the holidays.
I'm tempted to get a traditional live Christmas tree next year since I live in south Louisiana and trees set out on the curb after Christmas are recycled to create barrier walls to help restore wetlands, which in turn help protect the coast from erosion and lessen the impact of hurricanes.
If they live, in most residential environments they will grow to become an enormous eyesore, especially if planted as "foundation" shrubs. These are species that for the most part belong in the deep forest or on a large farms or estates, where there is plenty of room for them to do their thing. Moreover, many are natives of cool northern forest or mountain environments and in milder, more polluted climates or at low elevations will suffer from fungal and insect infestations.
Thank you, Monarda. You are my favorite perennial:)
Christmas trees are not only a crop, they also create wildlife habitat, improve the water table, and take carbon out of the air. Almost every tree cut will be replanted the next year. And as far as artificial trees, it takes 28 years of using them to offset the carbon impact of cutting a natural tree.
What about the environmental impact of shipping trees to parts of the country where they can't be grown? Living in Oregon as I do, I wouldn't think twice about getting a tree... but if I lived in Las Vegas or Arizona I might worry about how far my tree had to travel.
My husband insists on getting a real tree every year. I'm not so opposed to the idea now that we've done it a few times, but part of me can't understand the concept of spending money on something to enjoy for four weeks and then chop up for firewood. But they do look and smell much prettier than a fake tree.
Well, lifeinthefortress, you could just buy the firewood.
And does that rule apply to cut flowers, or do you like it when hubby brings those home? ;)
We tried the Living Tree thing when I was a kid in Central California...
...after a couple years we planted it in the yard and everything - whereupon, of course, it promptly died.
Growing up in Sydney we used to do a long drive into the mountains to get no.3. Now living in the colder south I look back at those childhod photos and cringe. They have to be the most ugliest Xmas tree I have ever seen. We now get a traditional fur tree for Xmas from a local farm and it is the most gorgeous thing. I can't believe we used to drive so long to get the Black Pine. I guess my dad just wanted us to have a real tree :)
When we lived further north we had to buy a tree in a pot because no one sold Christmas trees. I liked it but I love the experience of going and picking out or tree yearly.
Not sure if that's true, but your screen name is HOT.
I bought a mini tree in a pot at Trader Joe's three or four years ago. I bring it inside every year for the Christmas season, then take it back outside, where it is happiest, in January. It's grown some since I bought it, and I've transplanted it to a larger pot, but it's still pretty small (about 3 ft., I think). It works great for me, as I don't have room for a large tree anyway. And you can't beat the price!
1 for what tmoore and jbunk said.
that would be plus 1. apparently plus signs disappear upon posting.
We just bought a "Dwarf Alberta Spruce" from our local Lowes for $7. It's about 24 inches tall and I hope it will survive in a larger pot out on our balcony.