nope mine is Christmas tree. I was referring to size of her plant. All can't be perfect until they are given a fighting chance. Mine got too much sun so had to be moved. I am sure you can show us all a perfect one though Ken This post was edited by almosthooked on Mon, Dec 24, 12 at 22:36

Thank you, tsugajunkie. That's interesting about the rust you learned about, maybe causing little damage to the firs AND causing, though, yellowing of the needles. Both what I think tends to be the case with the one I'm involved with, the witches broom fungus (Pucciniastrum goeppertianum, scientifically. Maybe that pathologist in fact would know some key things I'm aiming to learn about. Of course or at least not surprisingly, there 'are' other rust diseases of fir trees. One, I read, has the Latin name Uredinopsis pteridis, and between its producing spores that can be cream colored (or white_) AND that the needles affected may naturally tend to turn brownish as they wither or die, I imagine the overall effect on the appearance of the affected firs, could be "yellowing" in this second disease, too. With the witches broom disease, the spores themselves on the fir cohost, seem to be reported to to be yellow colored. I'm not too familiar with the actual appearance of the symptoms on the fir tree end, of witches broom, including how (if there is a way_) to clearly spot it on firs. Wish I was, though, (maybe someone here knows or has tips?), because I'm thinking right now that I may be ready to try to in fact get started with conclusive testing of my candidate blueberry immunity (to the disease_) specimens! Home testing for now, right in a spare room I have which has a big sunlit window. Online pictures seem to tend to show mostly just little growths (spore cases and such, I think_) as what shows in general on infected spruce needles (except maybe, I think, at actual times of big release of the spores, when the spores themselves as they're being released, possibly add some color and noticeability). Here in wintertime, of course it's probably unlikely to be spore-release time, so, so far at least I'm thinking I'm going to sort of be having to , first, search for some somewhat damaged-looking needles or branchlets (a little yellowed or browned_) and then look very closely at the needles themselves and see if there are any of the little dot-like or nib-like growths growths on them. And if some little balsams do seem to have those growths, take them home and study some more to see if any of the balsams do in truth appear to have the disease. If so, then as soon as the blueberries have enough chill hours to bring inside (chill time needed or else they might not be able to sprout into growth once brought inside_)then--I think I've decided--time to begin the "final" testing! And of course continued study of the overall matter.

Wow -- I want to thank everyone who recommended Thymes' Frazier Fir diffuser. This is our first year with an artificial tree and I really missed the smell. Knowing GW, I did a search and found this perfect thread (!); going to the Thymes' website I found a local (I mean a seven minute drive, door to door) charming shop I'd never seen before. It was incredible! And for whatever reason, they sold it to me for $30 (it should've been $60); I protested but they said "no, that's the price." So I bought a few other bibelots to ease my conscience (and it wasn't hard because it was one of those incredible shops where you want to just move in!). Right down the street from this shop a man was offering hay wagon rides, so my four and two year-olds, husband and I all hopped on and had an incredible ride around this sweet and historic downtown. Then we found an outdoor skating rink, so we rented some skates and pulled each other around. On the walk back to our car a man was handing out homemade candy canes from his candy shop. My four year-old loves candy canes! And all of these wonderful things happened to us today because the generous people here on GW shared Thymes Frazier Fir diffuser. So now I have this gorgeous smell, know about this wonderful local shop, and had a wonderful, serendipitous Saturday. Thank you!

Oh, Christmas Tree is one of my favorites, too.... My mother sang it in German (she was of German descent from Northern Ontario, Canada, and didn't speak English until she went to school), and that's how I always remember it - auf Deutsch. When I was in 5th grade our small class was a human Christmas Tree for the school Christmas program and we sang O Tannebaum. Being the smallest girl in the class, I was the angel on the top of the bleachers that formed the "tree", and the kids all held pine boughs. I was so tiny I needed a wooden box to stand on to be seen, and the teacher was so afraid I would fall off. I was so proud because I already knew all the words to the song (LOL)! Deutsch Tannenbaum TEXT: Ernst Anschütz, 1824 MELODIE: Volksweise (traditional) O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter! Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit, Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit. O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen! Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Dein Kleid will mich was lehren: Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit Gibt Trost und Kraft zu jeder Zeit. O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Das soll dein Kleid mich lehren.