All spruced up for Christmas
Celebrating everything from the ancient Roman triumph of the winter solstice, Saturnalia, and generating hopes of spring for families through the middle ages, it’s a tradition that transcends the disbelief of the most bah humbug stoic, bringing out the wide eyed kid in just about everyone.
The Norway Spruce (Picea abies) is attractive and inexpensive, but is top of the tree in terms of needle shed. The Nordman Fir (Abies nordmanniana) with its thick flat needles and silvery underside together with the Noble Fir (Abies procera) has the reputation of holding onto greenery and delivering a wonderful smell. Each species and individual tree will have a certain character, making selection in person rather than ordering online such a pleasure.
For size, you need to measure the height of the room the tree is intended for, and keep in mind that the container will add around 50cm to the overall height. The base circumference will matter in a tight situation where sweeping branches can graze passing legs or unbalance the tree, so in this case look for a tree with a more rocket like upward thrust.
Even the most pert of Christmas trees will start to fail after about twelve days to two weeks in the slow roast of your central heating. Plan the introduction carefully, seizing the freshest tree available. Don’t be guided by the date the tree arrived in store, as many suppliers leave the trees in the forest for some days after cutting. Perform the needle-pull test. Pinch a good bundle of needles at a discreet lower branch and give them a good tug. You should pull away very few from a nice fresh tree. Don’t buy a tree in a net. It might be easier to loft onto the top of the car, but you have no way of judging its shape or straightness. Store your tree outside if you are not immediately putting it into its seasonal pantomime of decorations and lights. Cut a few centimetres off the base in the same way you would prepare fresh flowers and plunge it into a bucket of water.
There are a limited range of options for placing a large Christmas tree. Taking the power point into consideration this will generally include the hall (a rather public location), the corner of a family room, or a bay or other recess. Direct heat from radiators or fires will dehydrate a tree, causing needle shed. A corridor or hall with any traffic whatsoever will require a generous passage past the tree. On the upside, the hall is generally cool, a great asset in preserving a tree. Bay windows present a theatrical proscenium for your tree, tucking the presents safely around the base and teasing the neighbours with a nicely framed spectacle. If the lead for your lights is any distance from a power-point, it may need taping to the floor to prevent passers-by tripping and taking 3m of Christmas cheer down with them. If the tree is placed correctly, the festive booty can be safely heaped under the lower branches a few days before Christmas to tantalise the family.
Presuming you’ve managed to drag your prickly quarry in bottom first without decapitating the cat and everyone’s still speaking, stand it up in a bucket of water lodged with rocks in a suitable container. Sand will sap moisture out of the tree and peat will rot the base, so stick to water and top it up with about two litres a day.
Larger trees should be given further support with some well placed garden string around the trunk and hooked back to the wall. Before decorating, look at your tree’s overall profile. Rotate it to put the slightly flattened side from transport to the rear and anchor it securely. Remove any rear tips that may scrape and mark the paintwork. The fallen needles and the water in which your evergreen may be placed are toxic to animals, so don’t encourage them around the tree. A cat mesmerised by sparkle, can wreak havoc frolicking amongst decorations (never mind the mulled wine-fuelled humans come Christmas Eve).
We can do some gentle pruning but no demented Edward Scissor-hands at this point as you’ll annihilate the tree’s natural symmetry with too much topiary. Only take a very small snip from the top, leader branch as taking too much will leave you with a cock-eyed finish. Use garden secateurs to tidy up scruffy lower branches making diagonal cuts way from you and to the floor, to hide the work.
When Christmas is over, your local authority will recycle your tree into useful mulch. All you have to do is take it to a designated centre. For details on your local recycling centre log onto repak.ie, or for Cork, corkcorp.ie.
To move a live tree out of position, grab a couple of helpers, swallow the tree up in a dumped duvet cover, hold the cover closed at the base of the tree and detach from the holder. Don’t march a live tree directly outdoors after Christmas, but acclimatise it over a period of a few weeks moving it outside gradually and site it where it can safely reach its full potential height.
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