Oaktree Home and Garden

In the two weeks leading up to Christmas the population of the UK purchases millions of Christmas Trees.

The majority of trees are cut ones, meaning they have no root system attached, just the trunk and branches, however, thousands of Christmas Trees are sold as rooted trees, some are bare root, in other words the roots are confined in a net sack or polythene container with little or no earth around the roots., others are planted and sold in neat pots and containers.

Those of us buying rooted trees have the notion that once Christmas is over we can plant our festive trees in our gardens and they will thrive throughout the year and be there next Christmas ready to dig up and take indoors again to once more decorate the home.
Some of us merely wish to plant our Christmas Trees as a feature in the garden, usually in the most inappropriate of places, so we can watch them grow and admire their beauty especially in the winter when they are covered in frost and snow, decorated with garish flashing outdoor Christmas lights which transform our suburban plots into our own Christmas card scene. Unfortunately the twenty foot inflatable Santa or Winnie the Pooh rather detract from the romance of the occasion.

Taking into account the Christmas Tree varieties, once established in the ground, will grow approximately twelve to eighteen inches a year, thus giving a five foot tree a height of nearly twenty feet after ten years, the height of an average house. Time to call in the tree surgeons as the inappropriately sited tree dwarfs the house, raises slabs, does not sustain growth of anything within its girth and provides the ground with a permanent carpet of brown needles.

So what are the problems with rooted Christmas Trees?

With any plant, shrub or tree, a knowledge of it’s habit in the wild in its native environment is important, although not essential.

When looking at trees we can see two main structures, those with huge spreading branches, like the Oak, or tall columnar types like the firs.

As a general rule the extent to which the branches spread is usually the same extent to which the furthest roots reach out to. If you were to draw a vertical line down to the ground from the tip of the furthest spreading branch, you will find that is where the roots also spread to.

Using this generalisation it can be seen that the Christmas Tree roots do not spread outwards very far, instead they travel deep down into the earth, the main reason for this is to give the tree stability in its native forests where it is subjected to high winds and heavy snow falls.

When harvesting a rooted tree to sell on to the public at Christmas, the grower will in most cases, leave the majority of roots in the ground because of the depth needed to go down into the earth in order to get a decent root structure out with the tree. This applies more so to the larger trees of five feet or more.

My advice on buying rooted trees is always buy one that is no more than three feet tall, from base of trunk to tip. These are young trees with not much root system but having sufficient roots to allow transplanting in the garden with a high success rate.

One of the biggest problems encountered with transplanting rooted Christmas Trees is the time they have spent in the warmth of our homes over the festive season.

Whilst indoors they should be kept regularly watered and where possible kept in a cool environment. Watering can be a problem and more importantly a danger due to the electric lights draped around the tree. If possible place the container the tree is planted in into a larger bowl, preferably filled with medium sized gravel, where water can be added allowing the tree to take up water from the bottom. The planter should also have drainage holes in to allow this process to take place.

Where to plant the Christmas Tree

When the tree is put outside on twelfth night, leave it in its container, in a shelterd spot where it can acclimatise itself before being plunged into the cold ground. Don’t forget this tree has been used to the warmth and comfort of your home for nearly two weeks and is going to get quite a shock when moved outside!

Given the height a Christmas Tree will grow to, it is not advisable to plant one in a small garden. There are plenty of dwarf and slow growing decorative firs and conifers far more suited to the smaller garden.

In the larger garden it is still advisable to plant a Christmas Tree at least 6m or 20′ (approximatley) from the house or any other structures like greenhouses and sheds., so, should the mature tree eventually become unstable and fall it will not damage these structures.

Also bear in mind that the mature tree will measure somewhere in the region of 2.5m - 4m (6′ - 12′) across at the base, its widest point. It is therefore pointless planting next to existing shrubs and plants as these will eventually be dwarfed by the tree and need transplanting.

Make a feature of the tree, isolate it, let it stand alone in its own glory. Place large boulders around it to give the impression of a rocky hillside or naturalise bulbs nearby to give the woodland touch.

Well there we have a few ideas, more of which will appear in our design section later in the year.

Technorati Tags: Christmas Christmas+Trees roots bare+root rooted pots containers garden plant christmas+lights tree+surgeons pine+needles shrub environment native oak firs columnar spreading+habit harvesting transplanting watering gravel drainage dwarf slow+growing decorative greenhouses sheds rocky+hillside naturalise

Posted on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 12:41 in Hints and Tips, Seasonal Winter. Subscribe to comments RSS 2.0 feed. Respond, or trackback.