When you said you had your lemon tree in that window the first thought that came to mind was put lights on it.lol

Plants get top priority in this house. The tree is only up for about a month, but the plants are here to stay year round:) My tree gets stuffed in a corner as seen in this picture from last year.
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I do tend to put up lights outside so passers by can enjoy some decorations.

Foxy.

We don't put up a Christmas tree. I won't buy a cut tree. I used to buy a potted tree every year, but that got to be too expensive. Every once in a while I'll buy a live rosemary tree, but unless it has roots it doesn't come in my house. I don't even like cut flowers in my house! So there's no controversy as to where anything goes.

The Christmas tree gets priority during the holiday season. It ends up right in front of one of my best windows and the plants there get moved to the side or away or into another room in front of other windows or wherever I can accommodate them during that period... I have tried to find alternative solutions but it's a matter of space. There is nowhere else to place the Christmas tree. I'd have to move one of the kids out of their room and half the furniture with them LOL, which just doesn't sound right LOL

But I don't put the tree up until at least the middle of December and don't leave it up past the first week of January. About three weeks of relocation for the plants doesn't seem like a big deal so I don't worry about it anymore. Besides, Christmas has always been my favourite time of they year so I don't mind if small adjustments need to be made. It's also such a short period anyway.

Ours is fake. I love the feel and smell of a real tree. At some point, though, I realized why I appeared to have a cold every single Christmas. I'm allergic to the tree. I'd been tested for various tree pollens, but my family never really thought about the fact that the tree drying out would release pollen that was stuck in cracks and crevices; it just wasn't the season for pollen.
DH and I have a big Spruce windbreak by our house, and I'm all stopped up for a couple weeks every spring when the pollen is out. I love trees. It's worth it :)
Looks nice, Foxy! Mine's sort of in a corner, too, though the wall on one side only blocks about 1/3 of the tree.

Ah, yes.

I put mine by the 2nd week of December. I will be getting serious oral surgery (yep, am [ha] biting the bullet!) so most all my packages are wrapped already, and have taken over the fireplace... I hope to get the tree drug out, and sorted before the dreaded days of ice packs and blenderized food.

Gee! Won't Christmas dinner be fun this year?

Our tree (artificial) gets put up in front of the west-facing French doors in our living/dining room . No plants need to be moved. Even though those doors, and the nearby window, have some of the best light in the house in the winter, I can never put plants there. My stepson draws the blinds at least 5 days out of 7 to cast the room in darkness so that he can play his blankety-blank video games.

I love the kid, but every time I see those blinds closed in the bright light of afternoon, I want to scream. Even if I didn't want to put plants there (and believe me I do, at least in the winter time) I hate dark rooms in the daytime.

Jen, you probably do not have alergy to the tree but the stuff it is sprayed with. It happened to my daughter. Two years ago she started sneezing while decorating the tree and we found out that it was covered with something that was staining everybody's fingers. So we took it outside, hosed it down and left over night to dry. The same thing happened last year. So this year she wants to buy a fake one, but I love real trees, so we will wash it again before bringing it inside.

This time last year I did not have nearly the number of plants I have now, so deciding where to put the tree was easy. I plopped it next to the TV in the LR, at no expense to my then meager collection of plants. This year I'll place the tree in my DR. I'll have to move the Sans 'Moonshine', Neanthe Bella Palm, Philo 'Mexicanum' and several lovely syngonium starts to make room for it.

I love the smell of a fresh Christmas tree, but don't like to haul it in and then back out to the trash in a few weeks. I'm also afraid of it catching fire. So, that's why I've had the same 6ft artificial Canadian pine for the past 5 years. LOL

We will put up our tree this coming weekend and have fun decorating it! I think it may be time for a change in theme. Anyone have any ideas? Anything but chasing lights- I hate em.

Ooojen, this was a fun thread topic. Thanks!

GH

Jen, what a difficult question.

Foxy, I want to say your tree looks so pretty, and truly inspires me to set one up..The little Santa you have in front looks exactly like one I have (S)

Cena, I hope your surgery goes well. What a time to have oral work done!! It can't wait till after the holidays? My prayers will be with you.

I noticed, the last time I set up a tree, I'd sneeze and even break out..I'm sure it's the spray someone mentioned above.
I like real trees..and nope, don't want a Norfolk Island Pine, even though they're nice..

This is a difficult decision. For those of u who know me, also know my son has left for Ca, off to school. Now it's just dh, myself and pets..and the pets could care less. So, I ask myself is it worth putting up a tree?
Another problem is space. My house is wall to wall plants, and I don't want to deprive them of sun, if any comes along.
I've mentioned this before, but 3 or 4 yrs ago we got a nice sized tree..I also decorated a ficus that was placed in my front plant room..Plants were moved around, many w/o light..
But the point is, I had a beautiful 3 yr old tree gardenia, bought at HD for 9.99..Well, the gardenia was living in the front plant room where it's cooler and was doing great..but since I had lights and decorations in front I had to move it in the LR. The LR is warm, too warm for a gardenia. a wk after it was moved I had to crawl between the tree and table to get to the gardenia, felt the leaves, finding them sticky. I lost more than half the leaves..I checked for bugs and found it had mites..At this point I was ready to take everything down, and Christmas hadn't even come. The tree had one branch w/leaves. No matter how I misted, and cleaned bugs, it didn't help..
By spring, I placed outside, and that one branch had a nice set of heatlhy leaves, but that was it..then that branch got bad and the next thing I knew, it was compost. This also happened w/a beautiful Calathea..I never again found this type/colors. So, everyday, I ask myself, do I want to try this again? And I've a lot more plants than I did then..So far, I doubt I'll get a tree, so to answer your question, Jen, it's plants before tree..Toni

Hi,

We are fortunate. Our north window has a 15 in. bench window sill in front of it. That is where all of the plants go along with a couple of string of hearts that hang from shelves on either side. The tree goes in front of the window without disturbing the plants. Although the picture is a little fuzzy it will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

We have had an artificial Christmas tree for years. There are several reasons for this. I'm not too crazy about killing a six-foot tree just for a months enjoyment. I also don't want to bring in anything like Red spider mites. Thirdly, Christmas trees are a fire hazard that I would just as soon not have to deal with. And, real trees dry out, drop needles and are extremely messy. Yes, it's nice to have that "real" Christmas tree look but after all of the decorations and ornaments are put on the tree one can hardly tell the difference. At least not enough of a difference to matter to me.

Larry

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"I'm not too crazy about killing a six-foot tree just for a months enjoyment." Larry, I couldn't agree more. Also, I love your tree.

With the way Fox climbs through the artifical tree I can only imagine what a mess he would be if we had a real tree. Since I can't smell, the fragrance of a real tree is not an issue to me. I'll stick to the fake trees stuffed in the corner and let my plants have the prime window real estate. Another good reason I don't put my trees in front of the window is this is a very old solid brick house. When electric was eventually installed they didn't know how or didn't want to put outlets into existing brick walls w/plaster coating. All my outlets are on interior walls.

Thanks Toni and Jen! The tree doesn't look so good this year. Fox has gained so much weight that he has bent the bottom branches down a bit. Now I have a bit of a gap between the bottom two rows of branches.lol

Foxy.

I may have mentioned elsewhere that my oldest son moved here recently from Seattle to help care for his father. I was telling him today about this thread and the feeling some of you expressed, and that I was tending to agree with, that cutting a tree for a months enjoyment didn't seem right. He said, that only holds if you don't buy vegetables either. Christmas trees are a farm crop, grown for that purpose only. You won't get bugs because, as someone also said, they spray them to prevent all the bugs and diseases any monoculture crop is subject to. Unless, of course, you're lucky as I was the first ten years or so of my married life, and could go cut an un-sprayed tree from the multitudes growing on the cut-over land at the end of my parents' new place. They weren't farmed, and they weren't sprayed, and they weren't sheared into neat cones--just growed, like Toppsy. (Anybody remember Toppsy? I don't!! But I remember that saying--) Don't guess we'll have a tree this year--house is small, and the whole family will be here, and the only way I can figure would be to hang it from the light fixture. I will decorate, and might even put lights on the Ficus allii or something. One year I drove my husband nuts by decorating a large Euphorbia lactea. That was a sight.

I can't go with the comparison of a cut tree vs vegetables. A Christmas tree is only for enjoyment and there is an alternitave to using a real tree. Vegetables are necessary for ones health and to some degree survival. Don't get me wrong, I don't fault anyone for using a real tree. I just can't do it myself. Then again I have a hard time eating beef knowing we have beef cows out front.lol
BTW- there are people who hang Christmas trees upsidedown from light fixtures in their ceilings. My suggestion would be to get a little table top tree or decorate the ficus or a norfolk pine if you have one:)

Foxy.

It's up to each of us to pick what we like, but Nancy's son does have a good point. Farmed Christmas trees would never have been planted at all but for their commercial use. If they get too large for the trade, and aren't purchased, they'll be cut down anyway to make room for more marketable trees. It's no different from using trees for our enjoyment by having wood furniture, floors or doors. There are many smallish tree farms around here, and I'm all for them. They don't do a lot of spraying, but what they do do is provide good habitat for many types of wildlife, and they're harvested when it's not breeding season, so if you find a nest, you know the owners are done with it :) Evergreens make for better habitat than most other types of monoculture ag.
That said, I tend to be pretty anthropomorphic about trees-- more so than most other plants. I do think there's a sad aspect to cut, farmed trees, even though I don't think there's an immoral aspect.
It just kills me to see those majestic beauties in front of Rockefeller Center or the White House! (Those are NOT grown for the trade!) Last year they had the donor of the White House tree on the Today Show. It seems someone flies around in a helicopter picking out likely subjects. They asked him if they could cut the enormous tree in his yard. I thought, "The NERVE!!" but he was honored. Geez, even if (if) I had the utmost respect for the president, I wouldn't give up the life of one of my great big yard trees for just a few weeks' enjoyment.

A nice thread. Two yrs ago, I looked at our Christmas decor until March or latter as I was unable to put them away and depended on my husband. Last yr. no Christmas tree. When my kids were little, instead of decorating the tree, they laid under it and looked at the lights-so no loss for them. I have a German Christmas tree and a collection of Nutcrackers (my boys!) we put up. I have many other decorations-collection of angels and collection of Santas etc. but am not going to the trouble of getting it out, putting it up taking it down and putting it back away in the attic.
I too don't feel right about cutting down a live tree.. I have in the past bought a pine scented candle and that was good enough for me.
Bah Hum Bug!!!!! :)

LOL Eden,
Sometimes I feel bad about buying cut trees, but as Jen pointed out, these trees are grown for that purpose.
I've never owned an artifial tree, well, except for 4 little 2'er's I set up to brighten the LR.
There's something about a live tree w/its piney scent.

I never knew trees were sprayed w/insecticides until reading this post..now I know why I broke out when handling the last few trees we purchased..I am allergic to most pesticides. and the smell stinks like Raid.

Someone mentioned the movie, Christmas Vacation, and said something about they were looking for bugs..actually it was a squirrel living in the tree..lol..remember the family was running around the house while this squirrel hung on Chevy's back..LOL..

Also, as Foxy mentioned about beef..I feel the same way..not only w/beef, but pork, chicken, and yes, even eggs..When I eat I try not thinking about where that steak or 1/4 pounder came from. It is sad..but what do we do? I can't stand lettuce..don't even use in salads. Yuck.

So, the question is, what do we do? Stop buy leather shoes, purses, coats..use plastic doors and walls? I woulnd't wear a mink coat now, but heck, who could afford one anyway..lol..Where do we draw the line? Toni

Before Ric moved here he worked for a Big Tree nursery in Washington--they specialized in planting trees for people who had more money than patience and wanted everything to look mature right away. (I like to watch things grow from little plants, but I also remember someone saying the nursery business may be the only place you can buy time.) Once he explained to a customer that the tree that looked so perfect in that location would outgrow it very soon, and she said, 'oh, that's okay, I'll just cut it down and get a new one.' I have a lot of the ambivalence some of you have expressed about eating meet, especially factory-farmed chickens and feedlot beef and such--I'm sure all the bone fragments in tonight's dinner were from brutal killing practices. But I can't bring myself to stop eating meat, or eggs--I think the more I know the more I wish I didn't!

I got my first egg, today, from my back yard chickens. I really think that folks need to quit torturing themselves, with aweful pictures of the brutal reality, and choose.

Not to pay for a cut tree. Not to buy beef, eggs, whatever. Or to realize that people ARE carnivors, and well, someone feeds us. I get eggs from farmers when I can, who run free range, or barnie chickes. They aren't squashed into a pen, with 16 other birds. They are not treated with horrific pen treatments to make them able to live 17 to a pen. And I really don't think about it much.

I also don't buy cut trees. Had no problem, what so ever, selling, trimming, and loading them up last year. But me, myself, I, WOULD NEVER purchase another cut, used-to-be-living tree, no matter who grew them where, for what ever purpose.

This is what my mom did for her tree this year, she bought about three hanging pots of pothos a large clay pot and a 3-4 ft oblisk. She planted all the pothos in the big pot then stuck the oblisk in the center and then wrapped the pothos aroung the poles of the oblisk. she decorated it with glass ornaments, a string of lights, and a bit of wired tinsel, all from the dollar store. Boy is it pretty!

Xmas trees are a renewable resource, an agricultural commodity. For every millions that are harvested each year, many more millions are planted. At least these trees are storing CO2 and giving off O2 for the years that they are growing. Xmas trees are not cut down and replaced with asphalt, after all.

That being said....we actually don't have room for a tree! What we did last year and will do again this year is to dig a hole right outside our living room window with a post hole digger. Then we will buy a good sized tree ($14.99 for any kind of fir, spruce, pine), place it in the hole and brace it with a few rocks. Cover it with lights, suet balls, seed ornaments, apples........what a treat! We can enjoy the tree day and night from the living room.

The 4 adorable neighbor kids have already asked us when we are going to put up our 'bird tree', they want to come and help decorate.

rhizo,
Why not spend a few more bucks and get a potted tree? That way the tree will last for years to come. I love the bird tree idea.

Oh, I think the bird tree is great! And I know a perfect place for it--if the outside cats will just stay out--ha! There is a lady in the Seattle area named Cass Turnbull who started an organization called Plant Amnesty. Its primary purpose is to train people how to prune properly (not neat little lollipops) including the folks who have to contend with power lines going through trees that never should have been planted there in the first place. She says (according to Ric) that Christmas trees are the closest we come to tree worship in this country, and you almost have to be a tree-hugger to decorate them. Not to prove anything, but I thought you'd enjoy it.

Am a total Plant Amnesty fan! Don't GET me started on tree topping!!!!! But, I'll bet that Cass Turnbull has nothing against Christmas tree farms.

I'm all for using live containerized trees when they are appropriate. I've spent most of my adult life in the very deep South, however, where firs and spruces can't survive. You couldn't make me plant a Leyland Cypress if you threatened me with a pitchfork! I think I'll continue to support the Xmas tree farms from up Nawth.

Here's a link to Plant Amnesty, in case any one is interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: Don't Top Trees!

I enjoyed the site (hadn't been there before.) I agree that topping makes for some hideous eyesores, as well as unhealthy trees. As to the, um..decorative shrub and small tree pruning, though--- while it's not at all my own personal style, I do find it entertaining.

I know..it is only October, but I'm thinking ahead for once. Here is my situation/question: We have an enclosed porch that is kept unheated, however if we choose to use it during the winter months, we have a ventless propane heater out there. I would like to set up the Christmas tree on this porch this year. The temperature could get as low as 20 or less inside this porch. What would be the cons to putting the tree on this porch as opposed to inside the house where the temperature ranges from 60 at night to 70 during the day? Any help is appreciated.