Deck the Halls the Right Way

It was two weeks before Thanksgiving when I drove past a garden center and saw a large tractor-trailer parked at the curb. From the back of the truck, six men unloaded hundreds of netted Christmas trees destined for warm, cozy homes, cut down days earlier in Quebec.

A bit early for my liking, but a sign of many more to come.

Though it’s too soon for me to have a cut Christmas tree in my own home, if you want to get the best pick of the crop, you’ll need to do a few things to keep your early (and late) tree fresh.

First, very carefully cut the netting off the tree from the bottom to the top, while the tree is standing upright and stable, or laid flat on a bench or table. You can do this with good scissors or a sharp pruner.

When the netting is off, find a shaded outdoor place, or an unheated garage or shed, and stand the tree there upright. I usually put ours in the barn with the bottom on the floor and the top held upright with a bit of rope hung from one of the rafters. As long as you keep the tree upright, cool and shaded, it will last for several weeks before you bring it indoors.

Want a tree that has the best scent? The balsam fir is known for its classic and spicy fragrance, while the Douglas fir has an aroma that’s not as strong, but sweetly scented with a slight citrusy scent. Others with nice, long-lasting fragrances are the noble fir and the Scots pine, which have strong branches to support lots of ornaments. The Scotch pine also retains its needles well and resists drying out when it’s properly watered. There is also the popular Fraser fir, which has a strong and pleasant fragrance, and is also a good choice for needle retention.

Whichever tree you choose, plan on spending about 15 percent more than you did last year. Bring the tree indoors about a week before you’re ready to decorate it, but make sure it’s kept in a spot outdoors where you’ll have access to it in the meantime. Theoretically, I had a great idea a few years ago and placed my tree in the barn in a bucket of water. It worked until the water in the bucket froze and we couldn’t liberate it from the tree. You live and learn.

Before bringing your tree indoors, make sure to cut about 2 inches off the bottom of the trunk. This exposes viable cells in the vascular portion of the trunk that will be able to absorb water to keep the tree hydrated. Once indoors, you can do some last-minute pruning of the bottom of the trunk so it fits properly in the stand. Once set and stable, fill the stand reservoir with room-temperature water and keep it filled constantly until the tree is moved out of the house. Always keep in mind that a dry tree can be an extreme fire hazard and that’s why we stress keeping it watered.

After the holidays, our tree gets recycled right on the property. The boughs, or limbs, are cut off at the trunk and used as a light mulch in various parts of the gardens. The trunk gets set aside in the compost area and, in the spring, all the boughs and the trunk go through the chipper. The results are either composted or used for mulching. This keeps the tree ecologically within our cycle of life instead of ending up in a faraway landfill.

Many years ago, when I was a manager at Martin Viette Nursery in Brookville, we handmade hundreds of Christmas wreaths. It’s a learned talent and hard on the fingers, but we had a crew that came up from Puerto Rico every year to make them. It was an incredible cultural and horticultural experience.

These days, you can buy wreaths at local garden centers or have them shipped right to your door. The secret here, though, is to get a wreath that has been freshly made from freshly cut material. Ours were simple and made with the thought that customers would buy the wreath and then purchase the ornaments they wanted to add based on their personal tastes, such as sprigs of holly, pinecones, cones from other conifers, and bright red ribbons. When kept outdoors and out of the sun, your wreath can last for several months if it’s made from fresh materials.

We also made Christmas roping, of various lengths and thicknesses, from pine, fir or cedar boughs specially cut for roping. We made yards and yards of roping for one family in Westchester, whose two-story Christmas tree stretched from the bottom of a magnificent wooden staircase in the entry hall to the second floor. The roping turned around the railing from top to bottom. Between the tree and the roping, the scents and the scene were classic.

You can buy just about all you need to make a wreath at local garden centers. First, make sure you can get or harvest the greens you need; you can even use cuttings from our native Eastern cedars. You’ll also need a ring, metal or foam, that makes the backbone of the wreath, but once you gain confidence, you can go ringless. A hand pruner is necessary, as is green wire, which garden centers should have, as well.

Bright red crabapples also make great ornaments. There are lots of online videos on how to do this. And, of course, there are the ubiquitous poinsettias. Once upon a time, long, long ago, they were all red. These days, you can find this plant — a true tropical from Mexico — in red, pink, white, speckled, spotted, bi-colored and several other styles. And no, the plants are not poisonous to people or pets. Cats may chew on the leaves and this will make them throw up, and puppies may be curious, as well. Just be aware.

However, the white milky sap can be irritating to the skin or eyes of both humans and pets, so teach your children well and if you’ve got a dog or cat that’s perpetually curious, keep these plants out of reach.

Remember, the colors you see on these plants are not flowers, but rather colored flower bracts. The color is induced by breeding and proper lighting regimens months before Santa has the reindeer ready to roll. Most of us consider this holiday plant disposable, but some like to keep it going as a houseplant and even put them outdoors in the summer. It will not color up again next year, unless you have a greenhouse and special lighting, and in virtually all cases, you should simply buy new ones every year for the holidays.

Grow your poinsettias on the cool side to keep them vibrant and fresh. Don’t let them sit in water or near blowing hot air, but do keep them watered and avoid spots where they might get hit by a cold breeze as a door opens. They prefer bright light, but not direct sunlight. You’ll see them in pots as small as 4 inches, and up to 10 inches and larger for the taller ones. They can also be found in special hanging baskets, but these are treated the same as the standards.

In a year of limited joy, I’m so looking forward to this holiday season. Let’s make it colorful, bright and festive. Still keeping in mind the true meaning of the holidays ahead of us.

Happy Thanksgiving and, of course, keep growing.