Parks, Recreation & Leisure

Parks, Recreation & Leisure / Parks & Forestry

Tree Talk

Landscaping Tips | Plant of the Month | Tree Talk

Christmas Trees
For many years I had desired to try a real rooted conifer as a Christmas tree in our home. I had visions of hearing my children point out a ninety foot tall pine in my yard and explain to their children how it had been our Christmas tree way back in the 1980's. One year I finally convinced my wife that we should try this. I started by digging the hole in the yard necessary for planting the tree after its brief indoor tenure.

I then refilled the hole with the "fluffy" dirt so that none of the neighbors would fall into the hole over Christmas and sue me. It is important to dig the hole before the ground freezes as it would have been hard to do this after Christmas in below freezing weather. I then went shopping for balled and burlapped spruces as it is very hard to find balled and burlapped firs in the Central Ohio tree market. Firs are beautiful as Christmas trees but they tend to brown out in our torrid Ohio summers. This basically left us to choose between Norway spruces, Eastern White Pines, and Colorado Blue Spruce. I thus dragged home the largest balled and burlapped Blue Spruce that I could lift which turned out to be a three foot tall number that Charlie Brown might have passed up. I had no idea that trees could be so heavy. I brought it indoors three days before Christmas as I knew the tree should be indoors for as short a period as possible so as not to interfere with its winter adaptation after planting.

The children were not happy. It turns out that children are more conservative than Rush Limbaugh when it comes to holiday tradition and I had violated all of the rules. First, the tree was dumpy. Second, it was blue and had the wrong shaped needles. Thirdly, they felt it was entirely too small to allow for the copious quantities of presents they expected Santa to bring. Finally, it only stayed indoors for four days. Most of their little friends had had trees set up since Thanksgiving and my kids felt gypped.

We have purchased a six foot tall Frazier fir every year since which Upper Arlington thoughtfully mulches for community benefit when we are through with it. The blue spruce from our experiment survives but the children do not especially love it.

In final analysis, late December is not the best time to add to your landscape plantings. Live cut Christmas trees are an easily renewable and reusable resource. Do not hesitate to buy, use and discard one. Cut branches from a pine or a fir make an excellent wintertime protection for perennial beds.

When I get bored with the Frazier firs, I am tempted to get one of those aluminum trees with the color wheel. If I do, the children will disown me.

Parks & Forestry Division
Parks & Recreation Department
City of Upper Arlington
3600 Tremont Road
Upper Arlington, OH 43221
Phone: 614-583-5340