Dozens of eight- and nine-foot fir trees are ready for Christmas at Dave Tubbin's plant nursery in southwestern Wisconsin.
But the bestsellers this year are the five-foot potted spruce that customers can plant in the spring.
Tubbin said Second Nature at Reads Creek sold 50 of these "living" Christmas trees before the business even opened for pre-cut tree sales at the end of November. It's a long way from his family's first season four years ago, when they set out a dozen leftover landscaping trees for decoration around the nursery.
"People tried to buy them and I thought, 'Gosh, we don't even have a price on them,'" Tubbin recalled. "We had no idea that people wanted that. But as the demand continued to grow for it, we just kept bringing them in."
Tubbin is one of many tree sellers who are reporting new interest in potted Christmas trees. The option is appealing to both eco-conscious consumers and people looking to beautify their property after the holidays.
The unique take on a Christmas tree has been around for more than twenty years, according to Rick Dungey with the National Christmas Tree Association. He said potted trees only make up a small percentage of real trees displayed in the U.S., and the sales aren't something the association tracks.
For some consumers, a living Christmas tree is the ultimate choice for environmental stewardship, trumping both a real cut tree and a reusable plastic one in the debate over what option has a smaller impact.
"You're not generating any waste or byproduct," said Bill Lindberg, Christmas tree educator for Michigan State University Extension. "The tree is going back into the ground and then going forward, it's going to conduct photosynthesis and capture CO2 out of the environment."
A potted Christmas tree is also an easy option for someone who already plans to add an evergreen to their yard or farm. That idea has been around for decades, according to Lindberg, who said he grew up hearing stories about his father decorating potted trees as a child and then planting them in spring.
Scott Powell, general manager of Dutchman Tree Farms in northwest Michigan, said the smaller living trees have caught on with people who are looking to downsize their Christmas display, especially older adults. He said the same group is also buying three-foot cut trees, which are often marketed as "tabletop trees".
"A lot of folks don't always want the six- to seven-foot, larger tree, and so they'll try the smaller ones," Powell said. "The living trees have been an opportunity for those folks to take and plant it back out to the field or in their landscape as a memory of all the different Christmases they've had."
He said some customers are also seeking out living trees for porch pots and other outdoor decorations that are typically made with cut branches.
In Texas, Douglas Hingst of Pipe Creek Christmas Tree Farm has been selling living Christmas trees for the past 15 years. He feels like he gets more calls every year from people looking for the potted evergreens, and he expects to sell around 80 living trees this year. By comparison, his farm usually sells 1,400 choose-and-cut trees in a season.
"The people who buy (potted trees), they're really serious about what they're doing," Hingst said. "They mostly have an idea of what they want to do with it, where they want to plant it and whatever reason they have behind it."
Instead of a classic pine or fir, Hingst offers two types of cypress that are better suited for planting in the Texas heat. He said cypress grow well in pots long term, and some of his living trees reach 8 feet by the time someone takes them home for Christmas.
Picking the right tree species is just one of the factors buyers will need to consider before jumping on the living tree trend, Hingst and other tree growers said. Soil type and acidity, as well as the amount of space available, all have an influence on whether a tree will survive.
The planting season for conifers in Texas is from November to March, making a living Christmas tree an easy option in that state. But states further north will likely have frozen ground and frigid temperatures after the holiday season is over.
"If you can, put that potted Christmas tree back into a garage or an area where it's slightly warm," Lindberg said. "That will help it survive the winter or re-acclimate to the cold temperatures before you plant it out in the ground next spring."
Tubbin in Wisconsin said potted trees need to be watered regularly, especially after they’re inside a warm house. He suggests swapping a tree skirt for a metal water trough that can act as a drainage tray.
Living tree buyers also need to be prepared for some heavy lifting. Each one of the five-foot spruce trees at Tubbin's nursery weighs about 150 pounds because of the amount of dirt in the pot.
"We do deliver quite a few of them," he said. "We'll bring them right into their house and plop them down."
Tubbin said he's already planning to add a new species of potted tree to his line up next year that will allow city residents with limited yard space to try out the living tree trend.
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
