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Live Christmas Trees

Most live Christmas trees grow too big for home gardens.

One of the problems with driving my favorite vehicles that were old long before I learned to drive them is that I spend considerable time waiting for a bus or walking. The cool thing about that is that I get to seem so much scenery that I would otherwise drive past. While waiting nearly an hour for a bus at the Cavallero Bus Terminal in Scott’s Valley, I went across the street to see the landscape of the somewhat new Post Office, which has actually been there for many years now.

The landscape is a bit sparse in front (I think because of architectural modifications after the landscape was designed), so was outfitted with recycled live Christmas trees. Although none of these particular trees seem happy in the local climate or sandy soil, I had wanted to get better acquainted with them for some time. They are an odd assortment of spruce and fir that are rare here.

The more typical concern with the more common live Christmas trees is not that they are not well suited to local climates and soils, but that they actually do too well and grow much larger than expected. Except for the small rosemary, holly and English ivy ‘trees’, most coniferous evergreen live Christmas trees are young pines that get remarkably large; and some waste no time doing it! The most common live Christmas trees are Italian stone pines, which happen to be the two very large and broad trees in Blaney Plaza in downtown Saratoga!

Canary Island pines, which had been more common than they are now, do not get quite as broad, but do get very tall and messy. Years ago, Aleppo, Eldarica and Monterey pines all took their turns being popular live Christmas trees. Each of them grows large enough to require significant garden space.

This is of course not a problem for the few live Christmas trees that happen to get planted where they have plenty of space. However, those that get planted where they do not have room to grow can cause serious problems. Because they seem so cute and innocent while they are young, and are so often expected to stay cute and innocent, many often get planted dangerously close to houses, where they can displace porches, walkways and even foundations! Large pines, particularly Italian stone pines, are also too messy and potentially combustible (if not pruned and groomed regularly) to be too close to houses.

Sadly, large pines do not like to stay in containers too long. They can be pruned for a few years, but eventually get congested roots. (Bonsai techniques of root pruning can maintain even the largest types of pines in containers indefinitely, but not many of us know these techniques.) Small pines, like Austrian black, Japanese black and Scott’s pine (which has no relation to Scott’s Valley), as well as other small coniferous evergreens, like certain junipers, can stay in containers much longer, but these are the sort that are small enough to get planted in the garden, so do not necessarily need to stay in containers anyway.

If space is not sufficient, pines and other live Christmas trees that eventually get too large really should be given to friends and neighbors who have space to accommodate them. Fortunately, most do not require much attention once they get established after two years or so.

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Arizona Cypress

Arizona cypress is distinctively grayish green.

Classification of this species may be complicated. About five distinct varieties of Arizona cypress, Cupressus arizonica, occur naturally. Some may sometimes classify as distinct species. Some grow no higher than twenty feet, with stout and shrubby form. Some grow fifty feet high, with sculpturally irregular form. Botanists may not agree on their identities.

Old trees that mostly grew from seed are typically noticeably variable. Some exhibit nice bluish green foliar color. Others are more grayish green. Modern trees are mostly modern cultivars with strikingly uniform silvery blue foliar color. Some are supposedly conducive to hedging, which enhances foliar color. Although evergreen, foliage is freshest in spring.

Without hedging, Arizona cypress develops splendid natural forms. Whether sculpturally irregular or compactly shrubby, it may need only minor grooming. Its finely textured foliar debris disappears into any ground cover below. However, such foliage can have a mildly herbicidal effect on lawns. Arizona cypress trees in a row can be an effective windbreak.

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Deodar Cedar

Deodar cedar develops casual conical form.

“Cedar” is a common name of a few species of a few genera that are not actually cedars. Western red cedar is an arborvitae. Eastern red cedar is a juniper. Deodar cedar, Cedrus deodara, happens to be one of only three real cedars. Atlas cedar and cedar of Lebanon are the other two. Cultivars of Atlas cedar are uncommon. Cedar of Lebanon is very rare.

Although too big for compact gardens, deodar cedar is one of the more popular conifers. It performs splendidly within local climates and soils, as if it is right at home. Mature trees can survive without irrigation. Roots are generally complaisant, and disperse too deeply to displace pavement. However, deodar cedar can grow fifty feet tall and thirty feet wide.

Deodar cedar mostly develop casually conical form. Some develop multiple trunks or big limbs that eventually curve upward like trunks. Otherwise, limbs tend to droop somewhat at their tips. Glaucous grayish needle leaves are about an inch or two long. Most occur in terminal clusters of short spur stems. Some develop singly on elongated vigorous stems. Foliar debris has an herbicidal effect on the ground below.

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Port Orford Cedar

Cultivars are much more compact than the simple species.

Fifty foot tall Port Orford cedar trees, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, like those that get harvested for timber from their native range on the south coast of Oregon and the northwest corner of California are almost never found in refined gardens. Their remarkably diverse garden varieties mostly stay less than half as tall, as dense, compact trees or large shrubbery that resembles arborvitaes. Many have bluish or greyish foliage. Some have gold foliage. Finely textured needle-like juvenile foliage that is so prominent among young plants continues to appear sporadically with scale-like adult growth as plants mature. The small round cones are not prominent. Like related arborvitae, Port Orford cedar tolerates a bit of shade.

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Home Garden Conifers

Dwarf Alberts spruce is more like a conical shrub than a tree.

Most of the familiar conifers, or ‘cone-bearing’ plants, are large trees like pines, spruces, cedars and cypresses. They are practical trees only with sufficient space, and where their debris and constant evergreen shade will not interfere with lawns or other plants below. Their less familiar compact specie and cultivars (cultivated varieties) that grow as smaller trees or large shrubbery are actually more proportionate, and therefore more useful for refined landscapes.

There are actually several small specie of pine, like Scots, Austrian black, dwarf Swiss stone, mugo, and the various Japanese red, black and white pines. Some of the most compact cultivars grow as dense shrubbery. Others grow as small to mid sized trees with the personalities of larger pines.

There are fewer compact spruce to choose from. Dwarf Alberta spruce, which is a very compact cultivar of white spruce, is perhaps the smallest and most symmetrical, growing as a dense and strictly conical shrub.  Columnar and pendulous cultivars of blue spruce grow in opposite directions, upright and downward, but stay compact enough to be grown as sculptural specimens or shrubbery. There are also pendulous white and Norway spruce.

Several compact cultivars of western red cedar and northern white cedar (Thuja spp.) are popularly grown as tall hedges. They are not actually cedars (Cedrus spp.) and are more often known by the common name of ‘arborvitae’. There are even more Asian arborvitaes (Platycladus spp.) to choose from; many of which have bright golden foliage. ‘Swane’s Golden’ Italian cypress is narrower and denser than the arborvitaes, but not as brightly colored.

Despite the bad reputation of certain cultivars that were planted too extensively decades ago, many junipers are very practical and sculptural coniferous shrubs, as well as ground covers and even small specimen trees. Some ground cover types stay less than a foot deep. Shrubby and small tree types are at their best where they have room to grow without pruning. If ‘Hollywood’ juniper is too old fashioned, the various Rocky Mountain junipers and Eastern red cedar (again, not really a cedar) are worth investigating for their distinctively picturesque forms.

Chamaecyparis are perhaps the most variable of the evergreen coniferous shrubs and trees. Although there are naturally only a few specie which grow into substantial timber trees, there are countless cultivars that are compact enough for residential gardens. Most stay less than thirty feet tall. Many stay less than half as tall. Most have rich deep green foliage; and many have bluish, greyish or golden foliage.

Chamaecyparis are known by a few different but inaccurate common names, including ‘cypress’, ‘false cypress’ and ‘cedar’. (Although the Alaskan cedar is now classified as a cypress, Cupressus or Callitropsis nootkatensis.) Like almost all other conifers, they are best where they can grow naturally without major pruning or shearing to compromise their naturally appealing forms and textures. The most diminutive cultivars are excellent for bonsai and rock gardens, or even in urns of mixed perennials.

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Eastern Redcedar

Eastern redcedar is actually a juniper.

Like the majority of cedars, Eastern redcedar, Juniperus virginiana, is not really a ‘cedar’. According to its genus name, it is a juniper. That may be why it is less common here than within its native range. Even in its native range, most grow wild rather than in cultivation. Junipers gained an unfavorable reputation after becoming overly common decades ago.

Eastern redcedar has traditionally been more utilitarian than merely aesthetic. It can be a delightful Christmas tree, either cut or potted. While old cedar closets are native incense cedar, cedar chests are Eastern redcedar. Baton Rouge derived its name from a red stick demarcation pole. Indigenous people traditionally used Eastern redcedar for such poles.

Wild Eastern redcedar trees are variable and range in height from fifteen to fifty feet high. Cultivars develop compact conical or columnar form. Some are grayish or golden green. The small evergreen foliar scales, particularly juvenile foliage, can be somewhat prickly. The rusty red to grayish brown bark can display a handsomely fibrous or shaggy texture. The ‘silicicola‘ variety of Eastern redcedar is rare.

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Weird Tree

Sequoiadendron giganteum ‘Pendulum’

Giant redwood, Sequoiadendron giganteum, is famously the largest tree in the World. Although not quite as tall as the coastal redwood, Sequoiadendron sempervirens, it is bulkier. It grows taller than three hundred feet, with trunks wider than thirty feet, to weigh more than six hundred thirty tons.

Yet, like many species, it has at least one cultivar. ‘Pendulum’, which is the weeping giant redwood, is nothing like the simple species. It might grow forty feet tall, if it is able to support itself at such a height. It’s canopy might grow a few feet wide, but it really cascades more than it reaches outward. It really is weird. It looks more like a relative of Mr. Snuffleupagus of Sesame Street than like a relative of giant redwood.

Of course, its weirdness is what makes it so appealing. It is sculptural. It is bold. It really makes one wonder what planet it is from.

I got this picture in Kitsap County in Washington, hundreds of miles from the native range of the simple species within the Sierra Nevada. Actually, I see more of this cultivar in the Pacific Northwest than here. It likely performs better there because of the colder winter weather. Furthermore, this weird cultivar is more popular than the simple species, partly because it is so distinctive, and partly because it is more proportionate to home gardens. Simple giant redwoods only fit into very spacious landscapes.

Weeping giant redwood may not be good for anything more than its weirdness, but at least it excels at that. Otherwise, it provides no significant shade. It does not bloom conspicuously. It provides no fruit. It does not even make good firewood. Fortunately, weirdness has certain appeal. Within our home gardens, we can grow what we like, even if merely for its weirdness.

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Living Christmas Trees Eventually Grow Up

Although relatively compact, even spruce trees eventually grow up.

One of the problems with driving my favorite vehicles that were old long before I learned to drive them is that I spend considerable time waiting for a bus or walking. The cool thing about that is that I get to seem so much scenery that I would otherwise drive past. While waiting nearly an hour for a bus at the Cavallero Bus Terminal in Scott’s Valley, I went across the street to see the landscape of the somewhat new Post Office, which has actually been there for many years now.

The landscape is a bit sparse in front (I think because of architectural modifications after the landscape was designed), so was outfitted with recycled live Christmas trees. Although none of these particular trees seem happy in the local climate or sandy soil, I had wanted to get better acquainted with them for some time. They are an odd assortment of spruce and fir that are rare here.

The more typical concern with the more common live Christmas trees is not that they are not well suited to local climates and soils, but that they actually do too well and grow much larger than expected. Except for the small rosemary, holly and English ivy ‘trees’, most coniferous evergreen live Christmas trees are young pines that get remarkably large; and some waste no time doing it! The most common live Christmas trees are Italian stone pines, which happen to be the two very large and broad trees in Blaney Plaza in downtown Saratoga!

Canary Island pines, which had been more common than they are now, do not get quite as broad, but do get very tall and messy. Years ago, Aleppo, Eldarica and Monterey pines all took their turns being popular live Christmas trees. Each of them grows large enough to require significant garden space.

This is of course not a problem for the few live Christmas trees that happen to get planted where they have plenty of space. However, those that get planted where they do not have room to grow can cause serious problems. Because they seem so cute and innocent while they are young, and are so often expected to stay cute and innocent, many often get planted dangerously close to houses, where they can displace porches, walkways and even foundations! Large pines, particularly Italian stone pines, are also too messy and potentially combustible (if not pruned and groomed regularly) to be too close to houses.

Sadly, large pines do not like to stay in containers too long. They can be pruned for a few years, but eventually get congested roots. (Bonsai techniques of root pruning can maintain even the largest types of pines in containers indefinitely, but not many of us know these techniques.) Small pines, like Austrian black, Japanese black and Scott’s pine (which has no relation to Scott’s Valley), as well as other small coniferous evergreens, like certain junipers, can stay in containers much longer, but these are the sort that are small enough to get planted in the garden, so do not necessarily need to stay in containers anyway.

If space is not sufficient, pines and other live Christmas trees that eventually get too large really should be given to friends and neighbors who have space to accommodate them. Fortunately, most do not require much attention once they get established after two years or so.

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Christmas Trees Grow On Farms (2011)

Christmas trees grow on farms rather than forests, but some farms are in forests.

(This is an old article from 2011, so much of the information within is no longer relevant.)

Douglas, grand, white and Noble firs, as well as sierra redwoods, Monterey pines and at least fourteen other varieties of Christmas trees can be found and cut at Santa’s Tree Farm and Village near Half Moon Bay. Certainly, no one needs that many Christmas trees; and most select only one. Yet it is good to know that somewhere within such a vast selection, there is the perfect Christmas tree. Santa’s Tree Farm and Village also provides wreathes, garlands, tree stands, flocking, fire retardant and delivery.

On weekends, Sleighbells Gift Shop is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; and through December 18, Santa Visits between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 pm.. For $2, children from two to ninety-two and older can ride the train from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., as weather allows. Younger children ride for free. Santa’s Tree Farm is open between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekends (except for closing at 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve), and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays.

Except for trees on the Diamond lot and pre-cut trees, prices range from $46 to $69. VISA and Mastercard and leashed dogs are welcome. Santa’s Tree Farm and Village is at 78 Pilarcitos Creek Road at Highway 92, six and a half miles from Highway 280 on the way to Half Moon Bay. Coupons, showtimes (yes, ‘showtimes’) and more information can be found at the website http://www.santastreefarm.com, or by telephoning 650 – 726 2246.

Atlantic cedar, Austrian pine, Arizona cypress, Leyland cypress Scott’s pine, sugar pine, white fir, as well as many other varieties of Christmas trees can also be obtained from Crest Ranch Christmas Tree Farm, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of the San Lorenzo Valley. Douglas firs, pines, cedars and cypress are $37 up to five feet tall, and $7.40 for each additional foot. White and Greek fir varieties are $42 up to five feet tall, and $8.40 for each additional foot. All sales are cash or check. An ATM is available.

The beautifully scenic picnic area is a good excuse to bring lunch, or at least get something at the snack bar. Leashed dogs are welcome. More information can be found at the website http://www.crestranch.com or by telephoning 831 – 426 1522. Crest Ranch Christmas Tree Farm is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until December 20, and is located at 12200 Empire Grade outside of Felton.

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Colorado Blue Spruce

Colorado blue spruce is densely evergreen.

Most trees behave very differently in cultivation than in the wild. Colorado blue spruce, Picea pungens, is naturally a grand tree. It slowly but surely grows almost a hundred feet tall in the Rocky Mountains. Locally, if not competing with taller trees, it rarely gets as tall as thirty feet. Mild winter weather does not stimulate much more than necessary growth.

Furthermore, most home garden Colorado blue spruce are densely compact cultivars. Most are plumply conical. A few are quite rounded or globular. They function more as big shrubbery than trees. They are less conducive to major pruning than shrubbery though. Removal of low limbs for clearance compromises their strict but naturally elegant form.

Foliar color is as appealing as form and foliar texture. Obviously, Colorado blue spruce should be blue. Some are a bit more silvery or grayish. Trees that grow from seed tend to be greener and a bit less dense than cultivars. Such seedlings are sometimes available online. The stiff and prickly needles of Colorado blue spruce are only about an inch long.