A FOREST OF CHRISTMAS PINES : MONTEREY PINES GROW TALL, THICK AT FROSTY'S PLACE.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer Winter is here and yuletide decorations abound, but on a six-acre property along Orchard Village Road, it smells like Christmas every day of the year. There are 12,000 living Monterey pines in Frosty's Forest, a Christmas tree Christmas tree Evergreen tree, usually decorated with lights and ornaments, to celebrate the Christmas season. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands as symbols of eternal life was common among the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. farm between Lyons Avenue and Avenida Ronada. Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Edison's 220,000-volt electrical transmission towers run the length of the 150-foot-wide property, which is privately owned even though the utility company has a longstanding right of way. Business has been brisk this holiday season, said Jim Brumel, who along with his two sons owns the farm and Sunset Landscaping and Nursery. Customers pay $24.94 to cut down a fresh Christmas tree - of any size - at Frosty's Forest. ``There's no difference in price,'' he said, estimating Frosty's has sold 2,000 freshly cut Monterey pines so far this holiday season. Brumel, who has been in the Christmas tree business for six years, said the only sales trend he noticed this month was a ``bigger is better'' preference. ``This year, people are going for larger (trees),'' Brumel said. ``Seven feet would be the average.'' That's about a foot taller than the average in previous years, he noted. ``I think a lot of new houses have vaulted ceilings,'' Brumel theorized. Frosty's Forest cultivates Monterey pines, a bushy bush·y adj. bush·i·er, bush·i·est 1. Overgrown with bushes. 2. Thick and shaggy: a bushy head of hair. variety with longer needles than the popular Douglas or Noble firs The Noble Fir (Abies procera) is a western North American fir, native to the Cascade Range and Coast Range mountains of extreme northwest California and western Oregon and Washington in the United States. , because they flourish in Southern California's climate. The latter types, he said, ``do not grow well at all because of our hot, dry summers. They need a cool, wet climate, and Oregon and Washington seem to provide that.'' Along with sons Daniel and Jim Jr., Blumel traveled to the Portland and Tacoma areas in the fall to select 1,500 Noble and Douglas firs Douglas fir: see pine. Douglas fir Any of about six species of coniferous evergreen timber trees (see conifer) that make up the genus Pseudotsuga, in the pine family, native to western North America and eastern Asia. to sell at their Valencia lot, for customers who prefer not to cut their own Monterey pine. Blumel said the 7-foot-tall Monterey pines his customers are buying this year have taken four or five years to reach that size. ``We had a great crop of trees this year. (Monterey pines) make very nice Christmas trees because they're very fragrant fra·grant adj. Having a pleasant odor. [Middle English, from Latin fr  gr and they grow in a nice cone cone, in botanycone or strobilus (strŏb`ələs), in botany, reproductive organ of the gymnosperms (the conifers, cycads, and ginkgoes). shape,'' he said. ``Every time a Christmas tree is cut down, we plant another one in its spot,'' Blumel noted. ``We're a major contributor of oxygen to the environment.'' Pine-scented oxygen at that. |
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