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Living Christmas Tree, Part Deux
Last Christmas was our first attempt at a living Christmas tree ["I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas"]. I am sorry to report that the tree didn't survive the replanting. We decided to give it another go, anyway. We learned a couple of things, so maybe this year we'll have success.
First lesson is that you can't keep a live Christmas tree indoors for longer than 7 - 10 days. Longer periods in a home can lead to the death of the tree. We had ours indoors last year for 17 days!
My bad...should've done a little more research.
Second thing is to make sure the species of tree is well-suited to growing in your area. We picked a Frazier Fir last year. I've always loved the beauty of Frazier Firs. It was also the only species that the Christmas tree farm had with a root ball. I remember wondering why we didn't see more of these beautiful evergreens used in local landscaping.
Hello! Clue phone ringing! Frazier Firs are indigenous to the highlands and don't do well in middle Georgia or anywhere below 5,000 foot elevations.
Meanwhile, Randy Flinders, Broadband Writer/Producer for The Weather Channel Interactive, had read my living Christmas tree blog entry from last year and asked if he could do a story if we were going to try again. So this morning he met us over at Fourakre Christmas Tree Farm, a choose-and-cut farm about 5 minutes from our home. This is the place where we got the ill-fated tree of Christmas past. I didn't feel so bad about last year's tree when Adrian Fourakre, the owner, told me that he had lost four of the root balled firs he had planted. He's a tree expert and has been growing evergreens since 1981. He said they didn't have a chance with the drought conditions we had experienced in 2007.
He didn't have any with the root ball available this year, but did have a few that had been planted in a grow bag, making them easy to plop from the ground for replanting. We chose a blue ice, a type of cypress that grows very well in these parts and has an exotic look. It also has the most intense evergreen fragrance of any tree we've ever had. Smells like Christmas all over the loft.
Back at the farm, Randy was filming the tree acquisition and doing interviews. The story should run on The Weather Channel's Forecast Earth next week with broadband video content at www.climate.weather.com by Tuesday or Wednesday. Video is worth a million words, so I'll save the rest of the story for Randy's production. I trust you'll find it informative and a strong contender for a "Best Documentary on Living Christmas Trees" Academy Award should they ever have such a category. Stay tuned for the link.
For now, the tree is temporarily planted in a washtub sitting in our living room. The day after Christmas, we'll plant it in a space outside our bedroom window. We're hoping to enjoy this one for years to come...
Burke Sisco
The video of us getting the tree is live at Forecast Earth, entitled "Plant your Christmas tree."
Randy tells me that another version will air on The Weather Channel on 12/27. They'll run it a couple o' times between 9p - 11p, slightly rewritten so it makes sense after Christmas.
Burke Sisco
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Just so you know that I'm not a hopeless tree-killer: I planted three Italian Cypress on Mother's Day about four years ago (one for each of my mother's sons). They have done well and have grown to about 18 feet. For a picture, hit this link: http://www.ecohomeguy.com/storage/Sisco%20trio.jpg
Just think of my Christmas tree in the same light. Another tree planting tied to a national observance with a short lay-over in my living room.
Love you, man...