A real treat.Byline: By Hannah Stephenson Hannah Stephenson has some festive advice on finding the perfect 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. . Christmas trees are now in the shops ( but if you're going for the reliable, non-drop Nordmann fir, one of the most popular trees, you may have to pay a little more than usual. This is because the Danish government has withdrawn a grant to Danish growers of Christmas trees, who have historically supplied this country with a lot of its trees. Many growers have now turned their land over to growing crops, for which they will receive a government subsidy. All this may be bad for your purse, but the news is good for UK growers, who are hoping to sell more locally-grown trees. "There may be a shortage of Nordmanns (Abies nordmanniana) because of a shortage in Denmark, but the numbers grown in the UK are increasing," says Roger Hay, secretary of the British Christmas Tree Growers' Association. Some eight million Christmas trees are sold in the UK each year ( that's slightly less than one in three households ( and it is a number that is rising year on year. Hay explains: "More people are buying real trees for environmental as well as visual reasons. There's been a big recognition by the public that real trees are better for the environment. "There's also been an increase in demand for trees grown in containers so that you can place them in the back garden afterwards af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. afterwards or afterward Adverb later [Old English æfterweard] Adv. 1. ." So how do you ensure your Christmas tree is going to survive the central heating central heating Noun a system for heating a building by means of radiators or air vents connected to a central source of heat centrally heated adj Noun 1. , decorations and general traffic indoors over the festive season? Hay says: "Treat it exactly the same way as you would treat a plant you are bringing into a warm, dry atmosphere. Trim off the base a little to open up the pores, put it straight into a stand with water in it and keep the water topped up." If you fancy a change from a Nordmann this year, you can't beat a good spruce spruce, any plant of the genus Picea, evergreen trees or shrubs of the family Pinaceae (pine family) widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. The needles are angular in cross section, rather than flattened as in the related hemlocks and firs. or pine for scent, such as Norway spruce (Picea abies) or Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Lodgepole Pine lodgepole pine, common name for the pine species Pinus contorta, found in the Rocky Mts. and the northwestern coast of the United States. (Pinus contorta var. latifolia), which doesn't drop and is bushier than other trees. The secret of choosing the right tree is its size, says Hay. "Many people buy a tree too big for their house. You need a tree 2ft shorter than your room height to allow for a stand and the fairy on the top." |
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