6 of the best Christmas trees you can buy in the UK this year

Well all are great (albeit the last one is likely to split opinion), here at Forestry Journal there's one seasonal staple that stands head and shoulders above the rest. 

Christmas trees are where it's at and in the following list we look at six species you should consider for your home this year. All are already grown in the UK for the Christmas tree trade but mostly for smaller niche markets.

Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens)

Picea pungens was discovered in 1862 growing in meadows and along streams high up in the Rocky Mountains. Its new found fame spread quickly and far and wide. Today it is one of the most widely planted landscape trees in North America as well as the official State Tree of Colorado and Utah. Given the tree’s sheer beauty it did not take long for Colorado blue spruce to be taken on as a Christmas tree, and it is now one of the most popular Christmas trees in Europe as well as North America.

Blue spruce is valued for its canopy form, colour and needle retention. Symmetrical form and attractive glaucous (green/blue) foliage sometimes with a silvery sheen are two key attributes for this spruce’s use as a Christmas tree. Colorado blue spruce has an excellent natural shape and requires minimal shearing. Strong branches hold heavy ornaments and retention of the thin, pointy needles is superior to all other spruces.

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However, the needles are rather sharp and this may require the tree decorator to wear gloves.

Pice pungea adapts readily to a wide range of soils but requires a full-light situation for optimum growth and canopy quality. Growth rate is variable at 1 to 2 feet per year depending on conditions. Blue spruce’s popularity as an ornamental tree means North American consumers utilize it as a living Christmas tree for planting in the garden after the holiday season. However, Colorado blue spruce does suffer severe damage from a number of pests in its native North America. Prominent are spruce bark beetle, spruce budworm and the western spruce dwarf mistletoe which causes masses of abnormal branches called ‘witches brooms’.

Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri)

The sheer size of North America, as well as tradition, makes it difficult to determine its favourite Christmas tree. That said Fraser fir stands out from the rest in the United Sates at least. Named after John Fraser (1750-1811) the Scottish botanist and explorer of the southern Appalachians, Fraser fir is closely related to the Balsam fir and often called ‘southern balsam fir’.

Fraser fir is a uniformly pyramidal-shaped tree with robust branches turned up ever so slightly to give a definite compact form. These characteristics together with good retention of the soft, dark-green needles with eye-catching, silvery undersides, a pleasing aroma and excellent shipping qualities make it a popular choice of Christmas tree. Fraser fir trees also have a bit of space between the tiers of firm and hearty branches which is clearly helpful when decorating the tree. Most Fraser fir earmarked for the Christmas tree trade is grown in North Carolina.

But Fraser fir does not have all its own way. Few tree species appear to escape the attentions of fungus-like, Phytophthora plant pathogens. Commercial production of Fraser fir in North America is limited by no less than four species of Phytophthora - Phytophthora cinnamomi, P. drechsleri, P. citricola, and P. cactorum. All four species have been recorded in the UK.

Grand Fir (Abies grandis)

‘Grand’ is the right description for this potentially massive fir reaching heights of 300 feet in its native Pacific North West region. Grand fir is steeped in traditions and folklore of native north-west Americans but more recently used as a Christmas tree within this region of North America. It has been reported as a minor Christmas tree species in Washington State and Oregon but as a major species in Idaho and Montana.

The grand fir canopy is rich dark green with long needles up to 5cm long. Both needles and branches are soft to the touch but not especially firm and thus benefiting from decoration with lighter ornaments. Grand fir is also known for a ‘delicious fragrance’ combining the traditional Christmas tree smell with a citrus-like scent. When sheared, trees produce the most beautiful dense foliage with a powerful fragrance.

Grand fir has good regeneration credentials, which means you may well be able to find your own Christmas tree if you happen to live near a mature, cone-bearing forest stand.

Eight to 10 years of growth will usually produce a marketable tree. Grand fir is a shade tolerant species which thrives in high rainfall conditions and tends to be planted in the more northern and western areas of the British Isles.

Noble Fir (Abies procera)

A native fir of Northern Oregon and Washington, Noble fir was discovered in 1825 by Scottish Botanist David Douglas who originally named the tree Abies nobilis. North America generally regards Noble fir as the most attractive of its native firs, of which there are many. By attaining heights of 250 feet and with an entirely symmetrical canopy, ‘Noble’ is clearly an appropriate name for this fir.

Noble fir is highly valued as a commercial Christmas tree due to its sheer beauty, stiff branch-structure and durability when indoors. Accordingly Noble fir has traditionally snatched a significant slice of the Christmas tree market in the Pacific North-West and is widely used as a winter green to make wreaths, door swags, garlands and other living Christmas decoration. Indeed one of its alternative names is ‘Christmas tree’. Trees grow well under a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, although specific geographic areas have been identified for the growth and production of superior Christmas tree forms. Seed for propagation is sourced from these areas.

Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)

A true native of the British Isles, it oddly took North America to universally recognise the benefits of Pinus sylvestris as a Christmas tree. However, North Americans predictably call the tree Scotch pine probably due to their obsession with the ‘amber nectar’ from ‘north of the border’.

This tough and hardy pine has a high survival rate, dark green foliage and stiff branches ideally suited for decorating with both light and heavy ornaments. Needle retention is excellent and trees hold onto them right through harvest, shipping and display. However, they are described as being as sharp as pins with glove wearing recommended when harvesting and decorating trees.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association of North America, Scots pine is frequently used as a Christmas tree in North America with significant plantings in the Eastern United States and Canada. Ironically, it has not featured prominently as a Christmas tree in Europe, although there are niche markets in Scotland and parts of Northern England. And of increasing wider interest, not least because it is the country’s only native, true cone-bearing conifer.

Serbian spruce (Picea omorika)

If you don’t want to go as far as North America, there are alternative European species not yet exploited by the British Christmas tree industry. One of these is Serbian spruce, a very close relative of Norway spruce but altogether more elegant in shape, superior in colour, bearing softer needles and definitely better at needle retention. Its native range is the Balkan region of south-eastern Europe, including eastern Bosnia as well as Serbia.

Serbian spruce is much better suited to colder conditions than its close cousin the Norway spruce and better suited to areas which regularly experience late frosts.

This is a slim tree with a narrow canopy shape and ideally suited to smaller spaces and as the centrepiece in a room. The tree’s charming two-tone, dark green and glaucous (light green/blue/grey) coloured foliage gives the canopy a natural decorative edge and therefore suitable for minimalist decoration. Sainsbury’s traditionally sells container-grown Serbian spruce for a good price at Christmas. I have a Serbian spruce tree purchased some five years ago. It was planted straight into our garden and is now a sleek and elegant 7-8 foot specimen.

This article is a shortened version of Dr Terry Mabbett's latest piece in December's Forestry Journal. In the full piece, he looks at what Brexit and the current state-of-play means for the industry.