December 2011

OH! Christmas Tree. . . Christmas Trees are a wonderfully magical NC specialty, which we get to enjoy for a few short weeks each year. Have you ever considered what it takes to get that perfectly sheered,unexpectedly prickly, feather green, fragrant bundle of Cheer to your home each year? Brush away all the tinsel and look at the industry of the Fraser Fir, Abies fraseri. This fir is native to the Eastern United States. It grows in a very limited area of the Appalachian mountains in VA, NC & TN; typically in elevations from 3,900’ and higher.

The NC Department of Agriculture stated 2004 Christmas tree sales in NC totaled in excess of $100 million dollars, 2nd in the nation behind Oregon. Now this may sound like a lucrative business but the road to the “perfect” Christmas tree is long. It takes almost 12 years to grow a tree to the average retail height of 6 -7 feet, and that tree has been visited over 100 times!