Perhaps it was easier 20 years ago to purchase a Christmas tree. We weren’t overly concerned about our individual carbon footprints, and green was just a color.
For the last decade or so, whether it’s motivated by guilt or a need to simplify, it seems more people are passing up Christmas tree lots and heading for their local nurseries and garden centers.
“We sell between 30 and 40 live trees every holiday season,” Wight’s Home and Garden salesman Cliff Sharpe said. “It’s been pretty steady for the last five years I’d say.”
Sharpe, who’s been in the nursery business for 16 years, fields dozens of questions each year about the practicality of buying live versus cut trees.
If you’re the type of person who buys a tree the day after Thanksgiving and keeps it up until New Years, you’ll probably want to stick with cut and artificial trees.
“A live tree can only be kept indoors for a few days,” Sharpe said. “For decorations, I usually recommend birdseed bells — maybe some lights. It really depends on the customers and what they’re looking for.”
Live trees range in height from a few inches to several feet. They can be kept in pots for many years and eventually transplanted to permanent locations.
Sharpe warns, however, that evergreen trees can grow very large.
“You wouldn’t want to plant one in a small yard,” he said. “If you have the room, they’re great trees. A lot of times people will come in here with their real young kids, and pick out a tree that will grow along with the family. That’s always fun to see.”
People have all kinds of reasons for going green at Christmas time. Some do it out of concern for the environment, while others are just fed up with the whole Christmas tree tradition. “It’s really a 50-50 split,” Sharpe said.
Staff and volunteers at the Northwest Stream Center in Mill Creek hope to bolster the trend, launching the Holiday Trees for Salmon initiative, a program that encourages people to buy live Christmas trees and donate them after the holidays for various habitat restoration projects.
“Maybe this year, we can help make people’s decision a little easier,” Stream center director Tom Murdoch said of the program. “In the past, we’ve gotten calls around the holidays from people asking what to do with their now dead trees.”
It occurred to Murdoch and other staff members a few months ago that encouraging people to buy live trees would be a win-win for everyone.
“You get to enjoy the tree through the holidays and enjoy the fact that it will be used in local restoration projects,” Murdoch said. “Plus, when you bring us your healthy tree we’ll send you a thank you and a receipt. You can attach the receipt to your taxes and write off your Christmas tree.”
It’s one more bonus Sharpe can add to his list when people ask about live Christmas trees.
Whatever customers decide, Sharpe always enjoys helping or just watching families select “that perfect tree.”
“It’s nice that we live in an area where you have some options,” Sharpe said. “Many of the evergreen trees are native here, so you can plant them after the holidays and not pay a lot of extra attention to them in terms of maintenance.”
To learn more about the Northwest Stream Center’s Holiday Trees for Salmon program call, 425-316-8592.
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