Choosing a Christmas Tree – Eastern White Pine and Douglas Fir

Branches from the Eastern White Pine are often used in garlands, wreaths, and Christmas centrepieces due to their long, feathery, soft needles. Though it is a beautiful tree, branches can be a little too springy to support heavier decorations. Its lush fullness also makes it difficult to squeeze in ornaments. On the plus side, its needles last a long time when properly watered. In the wild it makes a magnificent tree attaining a height of eighty feet or more at maturity with a diameter of two to three feet. In colonial times, white pines above two feet in diameter were reserved for English foresters to cut, to be used as ship’s masts. White pine has very little aroma, but, on the other hand, results in fewer allergic reactions than do some of the more aromatic species.

A Douglas Fir makes beautiful Christmas tree with soft shiny green needles. It may be difficult to decorate if the branches have been sheared into a perfect conical shape, which is often done before the trees are sold at market, because it leaves too little space between branches to hang decorations. If you take an unbreakable ornament with you when you buy a tree, use to see if you can put decorations on it. Historically the tree has been the major Christmas tree species used in the USA since the 1920s when the Depression caused the first exporting of Christmas trees overseas, as a result during the following four decades, nearly all the naturally growing trees were harvested from forest lands. Today, as well as export to the UK, commercially grown trees are shipped to the Hawaiian Islands, Guam and some Asian markets.

Douglas Fir photograph by jikido-san, used under a creative commons attribution licence.