Christmas Treeing on a Budget
November 20th, 2012
If you’re a gardener like me, you probably lean toward a real evergreen for Christmas – whether you cut one yourself at a local tree farm or buy one already cut.
I’ll take a real Christmas tree any day over a fake one.
Those “permanent” trees (i.e. “artificial,” “fake” or “Chinese imports”) just aren’t the same, kind of like dye-infused blue orchids, spray-painted poinsettias and synthetic lawn. I’ve got a series of Patriot-News and Pennlive.com articles and videos coming up on topics such as tree varieties and making sure you get a fresh tree, but I thought I’d share some money-saving tips here as tree-shopping season kicks off.Ten ideas for tree-buying on a budget:
1.) Do you really need an 8-footer? Down-size a foot or two and elevate the stand with scrap wood. Wrap with a holiday cover or plain white sheet and no one will know.
2.) Consider varieties. Those Fraser firs sure are sleek, but they fetch top dollar because they’re finicky to grow. Douglas firs are excellent, too, and a few bucks cheaper. Also take a look at concolor and Canaan firs.
3.) How about a potted mini-evergreen? Some stores are selling 3- to 5-foot potted dwarf Alberta spruce, columnar juniper, columnar boxwood and/or arborvitae that can serve double-use as a small Christmas tree now and a landscape plant later.
4.) Can you use an evergreen in the landscape? Also available are live, balled-and-burlapped evergreens that you can use for Christmas, then plant outside after Christmas.
Prepare your hole now, save the soil in a no-freeze location, and put a board over the hole so no one falls in. Figure on displaying the live tree no more than 7 to 10 days inside, and keep the rootball moist but never soggy. After Christmas, move the tree outside to a protected, unheated area for a 2- to 3-day transition period, then plant and water. Cover the soil with 3 inches of mulch.
5.) Do you have any landscape evergreens that have outgrown their space or usefulness?If you’re going to cut down an evergreen anyway, why not now when you can use it as a Christmas tree before sending it off to the shredder?
Ask how fresh a tree is before you buy it.
6.) Shop around. You’ll find some price differences among the non-profits, independent retail lots, garden centers and box stores. Just ask where the trees came from and how long ago they were cut. Since Thanksgiving is so early this year, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re starting with a fresh tree. A needleless tree on Dec. 20 isn’t a bargain.
7.) Cut your own tree. Prices are a little less, you won’t beat the freshness, and it’s a good family experience (usually) that supports local farmers. We’ve got several choose-and-cut farms in the area. Here’s a link to help you track down one near you: http://www.christmastrees.org. Hit the “Find a Tree” button in the left menu under “Consumer.”
8.) Do you have a large houseplant that you can decorate? In the years right after our kids left home, my wife and I hung lights and ornaments on a 6-foot-tall potted ficus we already had in the living room. It became our annual Christmas ficus and saved money in addition to the work of lugging a cut tree around.
9.) Forget tree preservatives. You don’t need them. Just trim a half-inch off the bottom of your cut evergreen right before setting it in the stand and always keep enough plain, old tap water in the reservoir so the cut end doesn’t dry and seal off.
10.) Cut decorating costs. Make your own ornaments, rethink the number of lights you’re using, and switch away from those cheap string lights that break every year anyway to new LED lights. They’re way more expensive up front, but they last longer and use minimal electricity. Also consider investing in a timer to turn the tree lights on and off.