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Know where your tree is from
Christmas tree facts for the holiday spirit
By Melissa Campbell
Maybe they cut down their own tree, or maybe they buy one that is pre-cut. They drive home, put it up in the living room and adorn it with electric Christmas lights and store-bought Christmas ornaments.
In the 1700s, a family would trek out into the forest, find the nearest evergreen and Father would cut it down. The family would drag it back to the cabin and decorate it with popcorn and tinsel. Thus, the Christmas tree was born.
Flash forward three hundred years. The family piles into the minivan and drives to the nearest Christmas tree lot or farm. Maybe they cut down their own tree, or maybe they buy one that is pre-cut. They drive home, put it up in the living room and adorn it with electric Christmas lights and store-bought Christmas ornaments.
The Christmas tree has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 16th century Germany. Online sources say it first appeared in America during the 1700s. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was first put up in New York City in 1931.
Now, many people find their tree at a local tree farm. There are 10 million acres of Christmas trees in the United States, which supply oxygen for 18 million people, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. The association’s Web site, www.christmastree.org, is a great place to find everything about Christmas trees.
Some popular types of trees for decorating are the Colorado blue spruce, Fraser fir, Balsam fir and Norway spruce.
Blue spruce is the official tree of Colorado and Utah. The tree grows naturally in western Wyoming, eastern Idaho into central Colorado and central Utah. Christmas tree farms outside this area, however, grow blue spruce.
Fraser firs are native to the southern Appalachian Mountains, and named after a Scottish botanist named John Fraser. It is probably an attractive Christmas tree because it grows in a uniform pyramid-shape.
The Blue Room Christmas Tree at the White House this year is a Fraser Fir. Earlier this fall, the White House chief usher selected the tree from Laurel Springs, North Carolina.
Balsam firs are very similar to Fraser firs, although they grow in different geographic regions. They have a dense pyramidal shape, with a slender spire on top.
Norway spruce has an appealing Christmas tree shape; its form resembles a teardrop. It is not native to North America, but is commonly grown in southeastern Canada and New England. While they are considered to have great Christmas tree coloring, Norway spruce that aren’t cut fresh and properly watered lose their needles quickly.
Some people, who either don’t want to spend money on a Christmas tree every year or don’t want to maintain it, opt to go artificial. Most artificial trees are imported from China, according the United States Department of Commerce. They are commonly made from polyvinyl choride (PVC), a thermoplastic polymer used to make a variety of products.
In California, fake trees that come from China have to have warning labels because of their high potential for lead poisoning. Richard Maas, director of Environmental Studies at University of North Carolina-Asheville told a Kansas City TV station that he believes a large number of artificial trees contain lead.
The National Christmas Tree Association offers tree buyers a few tips before buying a tree:
Make sure you know the size and height of your space before you go shopping.
Buy your tree from a well-lit lot that stores its trees in the shade. Ask the store owner how often s/he gets fresh trees in.
Check the tree for freshness. Some indicators of an old tree are excessive needle loss, discolored needles and wrinkled bark. Fir needles should break when bent with the fingers; pine needles won’t break unless they are very dry.
When in doubt, don’t buy a tree.
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