The Christmas tree is a coveted holiday staple, but each year, it sparks familiar questions about what type and size will work best in your space and how to care for it. Here are some tips about picking and maintaining your tree, along with local spots to shop to make your choice – and haul – easier.
Exploring options
As you are considering the different types and sizes of trees, Columbus offers a variety of farms and places to source the tree of your dreams.
Located off Kinnear Road, Oakland Nurseries offers a range of spruces, from Jean’s Dilly to Norway spruce. HTH Christmas Tree Lot on Dublin-Granville Road is another option, offering blue spruces among other choices.
White pines, with their multi-green color and sparse needles, are not as aromatic, making it a popular, more allergen-friendly tree option. Scotch pines are also very popular, known for their conical shape and retention of their blue-green needles. Taylor Christmas Tree Farm on Kenny Road is an option for choosing from a variety of species and sizes. TNTrees Farm in Hilliard is a family-owned farm offering plenty of pine trees, as well as fragrant, long-lasting Canaan fir.
Several area churches also sell a variety of trees, wreaths and roping as communal fundraisers.
Types of trees
Freepik
Different species of trees can offer various benefits to enhance your decor.
According to Matt Moser, the general manager of Oakland Nurseries in Columbus, fir trees are a popular option because they have a good fragrance and a medium amount of needles that are softer to touch and have good durability for ornaments.
“The Scotch pine are kind of prickly and have a really stiff branch structure, so it carries heavier ornaments… A white pine, which is really droopy, doesn't carry heavy ornaments,” says Moser. “The Balsam, Frasers and Canaan firs are kind of like the in-between.”
Spruce trees are another popular choice, enjoyed for their evergreen color, expansive conical shape and upturned branches – all components blending with your existing decor.
Dimensions
From tabletop trees to 13-foot trees, the perfect holiday centerpiece is not one-size-fits-all.
Whether you are looking for a tree to fill your entryway or a small corner of your bedroom, measuring your space is an easy first step. Moser advises adding about a foot or more of clearance from the top of your tree to make space for the tree stand and topper. You should also account for some slight changes in the fullness of the tree as bottom branches are limbed off and others start drooping once it’s in the space.
Liveliness
When narrowing down trees, the National Christmas Tree Association suggests assessing the tree’s quality and needles.
One way to test a tree’s needles is by stroking the branches, looking for browning or falling needles. While trees naturally shed their needles, clumps of needles falling off can be a sign that a tree is not in its best shape. Large cracks in the bark also show that a tree might not last as long.
However, finding sap on the tree can be an indication that the tree will stay livelier during the holiday season.
“They cut Christmas trees early enough so that there's still sap up in the branch structure of the tree, and sap has sugars in it, and that's what helps keep the needles alive longer,” Moser says.
Maintenance
It is typical to display a tree for two to three weeks before it dries out, so make sure you make the most of that time.
Access to water is a crucial factor. Make sure your tree has consistent water levels from the moment you bring it home to keep it lively as long as possible.
For those who purchase their trees a little earlier, during the week of Thanksgiving, it is helpful to prolong bringing your tree inside. Moser advises leaving your tree outside in a bucket of water and making sure its water levels stay full until you can bring it inside closer to the holiday.
The National Christmas Tree Association also shares that cutting off a half-to-full inch disk straight across the base of the tree can help the water increase the tree’s water intake.
“Never let that bottom dry out, because once it dries out, the fat will seal off the bottom of the tree, thus it can't take up any more water and it will prematurely die,” says Moser.
It is also helpful to keep your tree in a cooler temperature and away from heat sources such as fireplaces, heaters, heat vents and direct sunlight to avoid drying out as well.
Jane Dimel is an assistant editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at jdimel@cityscenemediagroup.com.
