'Tis the Season
By Susie Coelho
Over the years, I’ve had a lot of Christmas trees, and most of the time all is fine. One year I decided to get my Christmas tree at the end of November. I bought a Douglas Fir because I found one that was unusually full. I was so excited to get it up early so that I could enjoy it for the entire month of December. The day after I bought it, I the Today show called and asked me to come to NYC to do a style segment. After four days, I returned home, and I was shocked to find my magnificent tree on its last leg! The sun had come in through the windows and skylights and dried my tree out! I had to get creative, so I went into my studio and pulled out grapevines, fresh seeded eucalyptus, silver dollar eucalyptus, ribbon, cinnamon sticks, pinecones, and gold bulbs and a masterpiece out of my mishap!
To save you from Christmas tree mishaps, I have included some ideas below for easy ways to keep your live tree fresh.
- Use a reservoir type stand.
- Make a fresh cut on the base so that the tree trunk will soak up the water (just as you would fresh roses before you put them in a vase of water.)
- Don't cut the trunk at an angle, or a v-shape, which makes it far more difficult to hold the tree in the stand.
- Place the tree in water as soon as possible. Most species can go 6 to 8 hours after cutting the trunk and still take up water. Don't bruise the cut surface or get it dirty. (Once I put up a tree, didn’t have time to decorate it and left town for the weekend. I came back the tree was so dry and droopy and I just stared at it and couldn’t believe that I had forgotten to put it in water!)
- You can store your tree for several days in a cool location with the freshly cut trunk in a bucket that is full of water. The temperature is not important.
- Keep your tree away from sources of heat (fireplaces, heaters, heat vents, direct sunlight).
- Check the level of water daily and make sure that the bottom of the trunk is submerged in water.
- Drilling a hole in the base of the trunk does not improve water uptake.
- Keep safety in mind and turn off the tree lights when leaving the house or when going to bed.
I love living Christmas trees, but I have to admit for the last few years, I’ve gone faux! My life is a bit more unpredictable than the average person as I travel all the time and can be called off at a moments notice. First I had a green faux tree, but now I’ve really gotten creative and designed a beautiful Baltic white Christmas tree for my Grandin Road collection (www.grandinroad.com). The white is also much more contemporary and glistens like fresh fallen snow! We all love it!!!!
Keep Creating! It’s the Joy of Life
