Christmas time in Scotland

Happy Holidays

You definitely need a tree for Christmas - and the best place to find one is from the Forestry Commission.

Many of our local Christmas cards feature either town christmas trees or snow scenes in one of the many Scottish forests.

All Forestry Commission Christmas trees are grown specially to be sold during the festive season. When they are cut, they are between 6-10 years old - and two more are planted to replace each one.

The custom of putting up a decorated fir tree in your home at Christmas began in Germany in the 17th century and in turn were introduced to Britain by Prince albert.

There are three main types of Christmas trees sold in Britain:-
1. Norway spruce - regarded as the most traditional tree - a 4 foot tree contains some 150,000 needles

2. Scots and lodgepole pine which have soft foliage and hold needles well

3. Noble and Nordmann fir which hold needles the best and are probably thye most popular

Around 6 million trees are sold in Britain each year of which the Forestry Commission provides around 100,000 trees. For every tree cut they plant at least another two.

In 2004 they planted 150,000 Christmas trees. About half were Noble fir, which is the best Christmas tree for holding its needles. Growing times: Pine (5 years); Spruce (7 years); Noble Fir (10 years).

Yours aye

Gordon Flavell
www.flavell.com

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