Each year there are families who can’t stand the thought of cutting down a perfectly good Christmas tree for the holidays. For those folks, the idea of purchasing a ball & burlap tree with its roots intact is appealing. When you’ve removed all the lights, ornaments and tinsel, you can plant it outside in your landscape.
Rosemary plants that have been sheared into small Christmas trees are great gifts. Plant them outside and snip from the branches for culinary dishes. Rosemary is great with roasted veggies!
When choosing a tree, consider where you live. Though the Fraser fir is arguably the perfect Christmas tree it is not a species that will thrive in many landscapes. Check with your local nursery about what will be best for your area. Some to consider are the Norway spruce (dark green), sheared white pine (bluish green) and deodar cedar (silvery green). A tree for high elevations is the Colorado blue spruce.
When bringing any tree into your home, whether it’s ball & burlap or a cut tree, make sure to keep the tree watered.
When it’s time to plant outside, make sure you place it in a spot that has plenty of room. These trees grow rather large at maturity. If you don’t have room in your own landscape, contact your child’s school to determine if there is room on the school grounds for a new tree. If not, contact your town’s public works department to see if any of the town’s public parks could use a new evergreen tree.
For those in condominiums or apartments looking for smaller living plants, the dwarf Alberta spruce shrub is a good substitute for a tree under four feet. Another option is the sheared rosemary plants to use as tabletop trees. Both can be planted in early spring into your landscape.