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Potted Christmas Trees Grow Up

Dwarf Alberta spruce stays very compact.

There should be no stigma associated with cut Christmas trees. They grow on farms, not within natural ecosystems, as some believe. Like cut foliage, cut flowers and vegetables, they are an agricultural commodity. They generate no more greenwaste than an average lawn. Yet, potted Christmas trees are popular as an ‘environmentally responsible’ option.

Potted Christmas trees, however, can be more of an environmental detriment. Only those that perform for a few years consume less resources than cut Christmas trees. Almost all deteriorate too much during their first summer for a second Christmas. Therefore, they do not perform any more perpetually than cut trees. They are, however, costlier and smaller.

The expense of potted Christmas trees is proportionate to the resources which they use. Proportionately, they require more fertilizers, pesticides and infrastructure than cut trees. This is also relevant environmentally. So is their synthetic growing medium, plastic pots, and for some, mylar wrapping. Transportation is more efficient only for the smallest sorts.

Regardless, for many households, potted Christmas trees remain after Christmas. Some of the most expensive sorts are fortunately more likely to be practical sorts. They may be compact types that are conducive to confinement within big pots. If so, they may function as Christmas trees for a few years. Afterward, they might fit nicely into their home garden.

This includes a few cultivars of spruce as well as fir and even pine. Dwarf Alberta spruce is easy to accommodate in both pots and gardens. Large specimens are expensive and rare though, so few need accommodation now. Blue spruce is more practical as a potted Christmas tree, but grows larger. Eastern redcedar can stay in a large pot for a few years.

The most common potted Christmas trees are Italian stone pine and Canary Island pine. These are the small sorts with cheap ornaments and mylar wrapping. They too often lack identification or description of how large they grow. Consequently, those who plant them too often provide inadequate space. Such big trees can be very destructive as they grow.

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Live Christmas Trees

Some live Christmas trees grow too big for home gardens.

They appear to be so simple and innocent now, shorn strictly into conical form and perhaps adorned with any remnants of their Christmas time employment, but living Christmas trees can potentially become big problems. Italian stone pine, which is one of the most popular living Christmas trees, can get nearly eighty feet tall and sixty feet wide, with massive trunks and limbs! Regardless, they often get planted in small gardens and tight situations after Christmas because they do not seem like they would do any harm.

Most living Christmas trees can eventually become large trees. Canary Island pine, Aleppo pine, Monterey pine and Afghan pine are the most notorious since they are the most common, and also because they are not so easily recognized while they are young Christmas trees. Their juvenile foliage is more softly textured and often lighter colored than their more substantial adult foliage.

These most common living Christmas trees do not like to stay potted for very long, and are not very conducive to subsequent shearing. Consequently, many do not survive through their first summer, and those that do often get planted in the garden without much thought. Until recent years, they were seldom labeled; so few people knew how big they could get.

Coastal redwood, giant redwood, deodar cedar and Arizona cypress as living Christmas trees are neither as common, nor as likely to not get recognized as trees that eventually get quite large. They need their space nonetheless. Fortunately, they are generally somewhat more practical for some spacious gardens than the large pines are.

Scotts pine, Austrian black pine (rare), Japanese black pine, Eastern red cedar (juniper), Rocky Mountain juniper, some arborvitae and the various spruce are some of the best living Christmas trees. They grow somewhat slowly, are more cooperative with pruning and can live in tubs long enough to function as Christmas trees for a few years. When they eventually get too large for their pots, they are not so likely to get too large for the garden.

Whether a Colorado blue spruce being retired after ten years of service or an Italian stone pine being retired after only a single Christmas, a living Christmas tree needs some help with the transition from pot to garden. Any circling roots should be severed when the pot gets removed. Otherwise, roots become constricted as the circling roots grow and expand.

Much of the dense foliar canopy should be thinned out to compensate for confinement of roots. Besides, much of the shorn growth is actually disfigured and will eventually get replaced and shed as new growth develops above the original canopy. Formerly pruned spruce, redwood, deodar cedar and most pines may need minor trimming of the upper new growth to promote a single leader (that will develop into the main trunk).

It is best to plant living Christmas trees rather soon after Christmas so that they can loiter in the garden through winter. Rain and cool temperatures keep them from desiccating as their roots start to disperse before new foliage starts to emerge in spring. Newly planted living Christmas trees should be watered somewhat regularly during their first year because their roots take some time to disperse adequately.

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Bare Root Season Is Winter

Dormant roots resume growth next spring.

Gardening is dynamic. It must adapt as each season becomes the next. Autumn became winter. Then, suddenly, the Christmas Season became bare root season. Cut Christmas trees that did not sell became green waste. Formerly expensive live Christmas trees that did not sell became bargains. They must relinquish their spaces for fresh bare root stock.

The chronology could not be better. Christmas trees are seasonable while not much else is. Their season abruptly ends precisely as bare root season begins. Bare root season is contingent on the winter dormancy of all associated bare root stock. While dormant, such stock is unaware of what is happening. Otherwise, it would not survive such techniques.

Bare root stock grows in the ground on farms. The roots become bare by separation from their soil during winter dormancy. They should be comfortable within the soil of their new gardens before dormancy ends. They disperse new roots into their new gardens as they resume growth after dormancy. Therefore, transition from farm to garden should be quick.

Some bare root stock arrives by parcel delivery with damply wrapped and bagged roots. More is available from nurseries, with its roots relaxing within damp sand until purchase. Some is available within individual bags of damp sawdust. Most bare root stock benefits from generally minor trimming or grooming. All benefits from prompt and proper planting.

Bare root season is the best time to procure and install several types of plants. Bare root stock is significantly less expensive than canned stock. It is also much less cumbersome to bring home from nurseries. Because bare roots were never confined within cans, they disperse more efficiently. Formerly canned root systems must recover from confinement.

Deciduous fruit trees and roses are the most popular bare root plants. More cultivars are available during bare root season than as canned nursery stock later. Several deciduous but fruitless trees, vines and shrubs are also available. So are a few types of berries and perennials, like rhubarb, asparagus and artichoke. Bare root season finishes with winter.

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Winter Flowers Bloom In Season

Some flowers naturally bloom during winter.

Evergreen foliage and colorful berries might be more prominent than flowers about now. They should be. Evergreen foliage is, as implied, evergreen. Colorful berries need to be appealing to wildlife that disperses their seed through winter. Not so many winter flowers bloom, though. Most flowers want their bloom season to be favorable for their pollinators.

Flowers that do not rely on pollinators can bloom whenever they choose to. Yet, because they do not rely on pollinators, most waste no resources on floral color. Flowers are, after all, only colorful to attract pollinators. Therefore, if flowers that need no pollinators bloom now, most are easy to ignore. Flowers that are colorful now can probably justify being so.

Most colorful flowers bloom while their pollinators are most active, during warm weather. Some from cooler climates can bloom now simply because they do not know it is winter. Some from milder climates can bloom now because they do not know how cool winter is. Several winter flowers actually bloom now to exploit pollinators who are active in winter.

Winter flowers of some species of Salvia appeal very specifically to hummingbirds. Such species are native to regions where hummingbirds overwinter. Their floral colors are the sort that hummingbirds pursue. Their floral structure and nectar favor the eating habits of hummingbirds. They bloom during winter because that is when they expect their guests.

Camellias of various cultivars are among the most popular and reliable of winter flowers. Different cultivars bloom at slightly different times. Witch hazel cultivars can bloom nicely on bare stems where chill is adequate. Winter jasmine requires less chill and blooms as splendidly, but only with yellow. Oregon grape is also limited to yellow, but is evergreen.

Cool season annuals generally provide the most colorful of winter flowers. Unfortunately, most perform only until warmer spring or summer weather. Pansy, viola and primrose are the most familiar. Primrose becomes popular a bit later, and can continue as a short term perennial. Ornamental kale looks like big winter flowers, but is really big colorful foliage.

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Big Shrubbery or Small Trees

Pittosporum undulatum is a large shrub that can become a small tree.

            Shrubbery behaving badly can be a problem. Many seemingly innocuous shrubs get planted in situations where they do not fit, and soon get too big for the space available. Others do not get shorn or pruned as they should, or simply get neglected, and eventually get overgrown. Many others have sneaky ways of sowing their seeds in awkward places where they would not otherwise get planted by anyone who knows better.

            Most home improvement shows on television would simply recommend removing obtrusive, overgrown or inappropriate shrubbery and replacing it with something more proportionate, appropriate and stylish. What a waste! Hidden within overgrown shrubbery, there are sometimes potentially appealing small trees that only need to be released from thickets of overgrowth.

            Overgrown Australian tea tree, sweet olive (Osmanthus fragrans), xylosma, glossy privet, ‘Majestic Beauty’ Indian hawthorn, and larger types of oleander, holly, pittosporum, cotoneaster and juniper are often easily salvaged by aggressive selective pruning rather than indiscriminate pruning for confinement. Lower growth that has become obtrusive, disfigured or otherwise unappealing can be thinned or removed to expose substantial sculptural trunks within. Upper growth that is out of the way can be left intact or thinned as necessary, but should not shorn or pruned indiscriminately. This creates informal small trees with distinctive trunks from what had been overgrown shrubbery.

            Some shrubbery may need some time to grow out of its former confinement, and may be somewhat unsightly during the process. As they develop though, they should require less maintenance, since most of their growth should be up out of the way instead of where it is in constant need of pruning for confinement. 

            Many small trees that often get shorn into shrubbery would similarly do better with selective pruning to enhance natural branch structure and eliminate congested thicket growth. Japanese maples, redbuds, smoke tree, English hawthorn, crape myrtle, parrotia, loquat, strawberry tree, Pittosporum undulatum, and small types of magnolias, acacias, and yew pines (Podocarpus spp.) are notorious for getting shorn into unmanageable shrubbery. Pineapple guava, photinia, toyon, hop bush, larger types of bottlebrush and smaller types of melaleucas are more conducive to being shorn and pruned as large shrubbery, or can be pruned into small trees if preferred.

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Foliage Surpasses Flowers For Christmas

Hollies contribute more foliage than berries.

Winter bloom might be limited. Wintry berries, dried flowers and the remains of summery bloom can be more abundant. Evergreen foliage is as abundant as it always is. After all, it is evergreen. That is most likely why it is so popular for home decor through Christmas. It is the primary component of wreaths and garlands, and, technically, of Christmas trees.

Flowers are more scarce where winters are cooler. They are also more desirable indoors while the weather is too cool to be outdoors. Evergreen foliage effectively compensates. While flowers are less scarce here, the most traditional evergreen foliage is more scarce. It is simply less popular within home gardens locally. Also, less of it grows wild in forests.

Most cut evergreen foliage consequently grows on farms like certain popular cut flowers. Many of such farms are in the Pacific Northwest, where such foliage grows most readily. Many types of fir, spruce and pine that are popular for wreaths are naturally happy there. Western red cedar, which is the primary component of garland, is a native species there.

However, locally available cut evergreen foliage can be as delightful as traditional types. A few types are native species that grow wild beyond cultivated home gardens. More are exotic species within refined landscapes. Douglas fir is both traditional as well as native to many regions of California. A few native pines can substitute for more traditional types.

Redwood, cypress and juniper are likewise alternatives for traditional evergreen foliage. Some are natives or relatives of native species. Deodar and Atlas cedars resemble blue spruce. Arborvitae may substitute for Western red cedar, and is actually the same genus. English holly, although rare, and more rarely produces berries, is occasionally available.

Christmas trees are the ultimate form of cut foliage. Unlike other foliar decor, they almost exclusively grow on farms. Their cultivation is very impractical for refined home gardens. Collection of other cut foliage should not damage its source. Some may be from pruning scraps. Christmas trees, though, are much more than a few stems. They are entire trees, containing all their stems.

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Nurseries Sell Some Marginal Species.

Heliotrope is available from nurseries in climates that get too frosty for it.

            Limiting selection of plants to those that are appropriate to the local climate is not as easy as it seems. Even in mild climates, plants that should be grown in even milder climates are just too tempting, and have sneaky ways of getting from nurseries into the garden. Consequently, when the weather gets cold, at least a few plants get damaged by frost.

            Geraniums, angel’s trumpet, daisies and many other perennials that are so reliable throughout the rest of the year were likely damaged when the weather recently got harshly cold so suddenly after being so mild. Sensitive plants that got some protection prior to the frost may have avoided damage this time, but will likely need protection again before the end of winter. The only sensitive plants that are reasonably safe are those that are located in sheltered spots or in pots that got moved to shelter.

            Now that the damage has been done, it is important to not rush corrective procedures. Even though frost damaged foliage is unsightly as it deteriorates, it insulates undamaged tissue below. Early removal of the damaged foliage exposes interior stems to frost later in the season. On rare occasion, exposed stems of some plants can be damaged by desiccating cold wind or sun scald. (Sun scald typically happens during summer, while sunlight is most intense.)        

            Early pruning of frost damage can also stimulate premature development of new growth, which is much more sensitive to later frost. Most moderately sensitive plants have no problem recovering from minor frost damage once annually. However, recovery is so stressful and takes so much effort that secondary frost damage to new growth can be much more damaging and even fatal to some plants.

            It is best to delay removal of frost damage until late winter when subsequent frost is unlikely. Large plants that are too unsightly to wait that long should be pruned as minimally as possible, and then pruned as necessary later. Minor distal damage known as ‘tip burn’ of avocado and lemon trees may not need to be pruned out at all if it first gets obscured by new growth that develops after winter.

            This may seem contrary to the importance of pruning most other plants while they are dormant during winter. The difference is that, unlike most plants that stay dormant while the weather is cold, plants that get damaged by frost are not so well adapted to cold winter weather, so do not know that they need to stay dormant until the weather is safe for new growth.      

            Burlap, plastic sheeting or any other coverings used to protect sensitive plants from frost should be removed when it is not needed. These protective coverings hold warmth within, which can stimulate premature development of sensitive new growth. Opaque materials shade the plants below and can eventually cause etiolation (stretching of the stems), which likewise makes plants even more susceptible to frost damage.

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Frosty Weather Can Limit Gardening

Foliar frost damage can be unsightly.

Even here, climate is not perfect. It may sometimes seem to be too warm during summer. However, it might not be consistently warm and humid enough for some tropical species. Winter chill may be inadequate to vernalize some species or certain cultivars of species. However, recently frosty weather has already damaged some vegetation in some areas.

Frost limits what performs well in home gardens in two extremes. Some species prefer a bit more than they experience here. Others prefer less. For example, peony prefers more, while vanilla orchid prefers none. Peony is only marginal where weather is exceptionally frosty by local standards. Vanilla orchid can be offended by minor chill even without frost.

Climates and microclimates limit frost just as frost limits what performs in home gardens. Some coastal climates here only very rarely or perhaps never experience frosty weather. Other climates farther inland or at higher elevations experience frost almost every winter. Within such climates, eaves or canopies of big trees can provide shelter from minor frost.

Vegetation within home gardens should be appropriate to its particular climate. Varieties that are vulnerable to frosty weather are likely safe where frost never occurs. Conversely, they will obviously be susceptible to damage where frost does occur. The best means to avoid such damage is appropriate selection. Climate will not accommodate bad choices.

Gardening could be slightly less interesting without a few bad choices, though. Besides, some of such choices are justifiable with the right perspective. Canna, for example, dies back harmlessly to dormant rhizomes after frosty weather. It wastes no time regenerating as weather warms. Some tropical species may grow in pots to move to shelter from frost.

Tenting can shelter some specimens that are too big to move, or are in the ground. Outer foliage that already succumbed to frosty weather can shelter inner growth. Therefore, if it is not too unsightly, it should remain through winter. Besides, premature pruning is likely to stimulate new growth. Such growth would innately be vulnerable to subsequent frosts.

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Autumn Tasks

Gardening tasks may be a bit less demanding now, but are no less important.

With cooler and rainy weather, and shorter days, gardening is not what it was a few months ago. It is more comfortable to stay inside when the weather is not so pleasant. Besides, gardening when the garden is too wet gets muddy, and can damage lawns and bedding areas. Even while the weather is pleasant, there is not enough daylight left to get much done at the end of the day.

The good news is that gardening is not as demanding in autumn and winter as during spring and summer. Plants are either dormant or are growing only minimally. Pruning and hedging is therefore not so necessary. Lawns likewise do not need to be mown as often. Without much blooming, there is less need for deadheading. With rain bringing more moisture than the garden needs, and cooler temperatures inhibiting evaporation to take moisture away, watering is rarely a concern.

The bad news is that there are a few things than should be done in autumn and winter that should not be delayed to spring. For example, early spring blooming bulbs should be planted as they become available in nurseries so that they can get a good chill through winter and disperse their roots as soon as possible. Also, evergreen trees that may be a bit awkward on their trunks should be staked before winter winds. (Deciduous trees do not get blown around much without their foliage.) 

Eventually, or sooner, the weather will get cold enough to necessitate protection from frost. Marginal plants are probably safe under eaves or taller evergreen trees. Sensitive plants that are not in pots that can be moved to shelter should be tented when threatened by frost. Tenting can be as simple as tarps suspended above the foliage by stakes, and only needs to shelter plants from exposure.

As deciduous fruit trees lose their foliage, they will be ready for winter pruning. This is very important for apricot, peach, cherry, nectarine, plum, prune, apple, pear and related trees, since they should not be pruned once they start to bloom in spring. Maples and birches should also be pruned while completely dormant in winter, since they bleed so profusely if pruned in spring or summer.

Weed seedlings may start to appear with winter rain. They do not grow as rapidly now as weeds do in spring, but have a sneaky way of growing in more places because of the uniform availability of water in places that would be dry without rain. Fortunately, they are easy to pull while the soil is damp. Seedlings of any desirable plants should be identified first so that they can be distinguished from weed seedlings and not pulled.

Falling leaves should be raked from lawns and ground cover, not because they are unappealing in the garden, but because they block out sunlight and promote rot. Raking should not be done immediately after rain though, since lawn and ground cover are so easily damaged while soil is wet and muddy.

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Precipitation Should Continue Through Winter

Red sky at morning, meteorological warning.

Deciduous foliage gets colorful with autumn chill. Then, it gets messy. Then, with a bit of precipitation, it gets even messier! It seems like a waste as it all succumbs to rain and, in other climates, snow. It is sensible, though. Deciduous vegetation will be less vulnerable to stormy weather without it. Weather will be getting increasingly stormy through autumn.

This is how the Mediterranean climate here operates. The dry season that begins during spring continues until autumn. The relatively shorter rainy season centers around winter. Therefore, most precipitation occurs during winter. Spring and autumn are brief transition seasons that tend to favor the dry season. Almost no precipitation occurs during summer.

Spring and autumn transitions between rainy and dry seasons are innately variable. The rainy season tends to finish early during spring, but may not. It sometimes pauses before resuming. It may do so more than once. Conversely, the rainy season tends to begin late during autumn, but may begin earlier. Occasionally, precipitation begins disturbingly late.

Generally, the first significant storm with significant precipitation begins the rainy season. This may be difficult to believe with typically significant time between the first few storms. Yet, with cooler weather, elevated humidity, and shorter daylength, moisture lasts longer. Precipitation, even if merely drizzling fog, will likely dampen gardens before they get dry.

Irrigation obviously does not need to be as generous as it was during summer. Until next spring, some vegetation will require none at all. Not only will weather provide and retain more moisture, but vegetation uses much less. Refraining from manual irrigation is easy. Adjustment of automated irrigation systems actually requires more effort and awareness.

As deciduous species defoliate for winter, some other species might get more vivacious. Cacti, agave, and some yuccas that lack irrigation become more turgid with precipitation. Remaining palo verde foliage is likely to become greener and fresher prior to defoliation. Most xeric species utilize moisture from precipitation as it becomes available seasonally.