Choosing a real Christmas tree offers many benefits, both for your home environment and the wider ecosystem. Dating back to Pagan traditions and then later made popular by the Victorians, a real Christmas tree is a must.
What are the benefits of a real tree?
Making memories – Choosing your tree is a fun day out for all the family. There is something magical about selecting your perfectly imperfect tree. Looking at ten different ones before deciding on the first one you first looked at.
Atmosphere – You can’t beat the appearance and fragrance of a real tree. Whilst many newer artificial trees look quite realistic, there is simply no substitute for the reassuring and warming smell of a real tree.
Environmental – Artificial trees have a carbon footprint and unlike real trees are not biodegradable. Real trees are much better for the environment. They are essential to complex ecosystems that provide refuge for wildlife, protect water supplies and stabilise the soil. A single Christmas tree can absorb up to 1 ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime, with one acre providing enough oxygen for 18 people every day. More Christmas trees being grown at any one time means more much-needed clean area being produced from our Christmas tree forests, preventing the earth-warming “greenhouse effect”. Like virtually all growers, we replace every tree we cut with a newly planted sapling each year. In this way, harvesting a Christmas tree is no more damaging to the environment that harvesting an ear of corn.
Are there any drawbacks to a real Christmas tree?
Some people are put off by the tree needles dropping. However, this can be overcome if you follow these simple rules:
- Avoid bringing the tree into your home before the first weekend in December
- Make sure you top up the container with water regularly
- Don’t place the tree too close to fires or radiators.
The history of bringing evergreens indoors predates Christianity. Long before the holiday as we know it, cultures celebrated evergreen trees during the harsh winter months. They were brought into the home to ward off illness and evil spirits and served as a powerful symbol of hope for the eventual return of spring.
The modern Christmas tree tradition originated in Germany. It was popularized in Britain and beyond in 1846 when the much-loved royals, Queen Victoria and her German-born husband, Prince Albert, were famously sketched in the Illustrated London News. The image showed the royal family gathered with their children around a decorated Christmas tree. Unlike previous monarchs, Victoria was immensely popular with her subjects, and because of this, whatever was done at court instantly became the height of fashion across the country.
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