Reasons to Buy your Christmas Tree Early

There's a careful balancing act between not installing your Christmas tree too early and spending your Christmas week cleaning up piles of pine needles versus not buying so late that the best trees have already sold out. We've set out the benefits and drawbacks of buying your Christmas tree early below and explain why we think ordering your Christmas tree online for home delivery can give you the best of both worlds.

Real Fresh Cut Christmas Trees

Potted Christmas Trees

Benefits of buying your Christmas tree early

• Choice of the best trees from the current years' Christmas tree crop. By shopping early you'll have the pick of the best of the bunch. Customers seem to be buying their trees earlier and earlier each year which is resulting in stock levels starting to look depleted on the last weekend or even the last two weekends before Christmas.
• Getting the variety that's best for you. We recommend checking out our articles on different types of real Christmas tree and how to choose a Christmas tree to figure out what variety is likely to be best for you. A bit of research ahead of time can reap benefits further down the line. By ordering and reserving early you're much more likely to find the variety of Christmas tree that's best for you and your household left in stock.

Drawbacks of buying your Christmas tree early

• All Christmas trees were living things and will only survive in the home for a limited amount of time before they start looking a bit ropey. If you put up your tree too early it is liable to start looking weary and dropping excessive amounts of needles by Christmas day.
• We suggest installing a Nordman Fir and Fraser Fir no earlier than the last week in November and a Norway Spruce no earlier than  mid-December. Blue Spruce, Noble Fir and Lodgepole Pine do best when installed from the start of December onwards.

   

Keeping your Christmas tree healthy

• One way around this if buying early in-person from a garden centre is to leave your tree in a cool, dry place such as a shed or outbuilding, rather than putting it up straight away when you get home. Christmas trees start drying out much more quickly in the home due to central heating. Saw off 1 inch from the base of the trunk when you get it home and dunk it straight into a bucket of water in its temporary location. Keep the bucket regularly topped up - do not allow the water to fall below the base of the trunk - and bring the tree into the home when you are ready.

• When you do bring the tree into the home the right Christmas tree care make a big difference to how long it lasts. Keep your trees well away from heat sources such as radiators and open fires and remember to keep your tree stand or water basin regularly topped up before the water line falls below the base of the trunk. With the right care and attention some types of tree can last up to 4-5 weeks but it's very easy to miss the occasional water or put the heating on a bit too high now and again.

Ordering online - best of both worlds

• One option that gives you the best of both worlds is ordering online or by phone well in advance and having our garden centre staff reserve a tree that fits your requirements. You can then arrange for it to be delivered on a day of your choosing or collected from our Staffordshire garden centre at your convenience.
• A key benefit of ordering online is that you can buy your Christmas tree well in advance, have our garden centre staff reserve the perfect tree that fits your requirements and either collect it or have it delivered on a day of your choosing closer to Christmas.
• We are more than happy for our customers to add notes to their order indicating specific requirements for their tree, e.g. bushy at the base or sturdy branches, and will reserve you a tree that fits the bill whilst there are still plenty left in stock to choose from.

Share this page: