It’s almost Halloween, which means it’s not too early to start thinking about where to buy a fresh Virginia-grown Christmas tree.
“We’ve had a very good growing season,” said Greg Lemmer, president of the Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association and associate director of support services and business operations for Boys’ Home, which operates an 18-acre tree farm in Augusta County.
“We’ve had lots of new growth, and the trees are looking real green,” Lemmer said. “I’ve visited other tree farms, and I think I can speak for other growers when I say it’s been a good season for everyone.”
Virginia Chisholm Carroll, past president of the VCTGA, agreed. She said this year’s rainfall was beneficial for newly planted seedlings and will help ensure that trees at cut-and-choose farms and at retail lots will be well-hydrated.
Virginia’s Christmas tree farms range in size from less than an acre to several hundred acres, with a few farmers growing trees on more than 1,000 acres. Each year Virginia growers sell 1 million to 2 million trees, which have a wholesale value of $20 million to $40 million.
“Tree growers in Virginia encourage the selection of a green, eco-friendly Virginia-grown tree, whether it’s purchased at a local farm or at a retail lot,” said Carroll, who is co-owner of Claybrooke Farm in Louisa County. Her family grows five different species of evergreen trees on 20 acres.
The Boys’ Home tree farm sells about 200 choose-and-cut trees annually and another 600 to 700 are sold to local retail outlets. The farm produces primarily white pine, a few Norway spruces, some concolor firs and a limited amount of Fraser firs.
People tend to seek out the Fraser firs “but often leave with something else,” Lemmer said.
Fraser firs grow native in a relatively small area of the highest elevations in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The cool weather-loving trees like the temperatures at the top of Mount Rogers, which is 5,729 feet high, and on neighboring Whitetop, which is 5,520 feet.
Whitetop is home of the 2013 National Christmas Tree Association’s Reserve Champion tree. Rodney Richardson, owner of Mt. Rogers Christmas Tree Farm, won the annual competition and will provide one of his Fraser firs for the vice presidential residence in Washington.
Most Virginia-grown trees are cut just prior to Thanksgiving and are sold through the end of December.
“When people buy Virginia trees, they know they will be fresh and that they’re supporting the state’s tree growers,” Lemmer said.
Carroll added that the state’s tree growers “want Virginians to include the fragrance, the look and the feel of a fresh Virginia tree in their holiday traditions.”
To find a Virginia Christmas tree farm or retailer near you, visit the VCTGA website at www.VirginiaChristmasTrees.org.
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