Live Trees Bring Joy for More Than a Season

Memories of Christmas past rush through our minds whenever we smell the scent of pine. With live Christmas trees from John’s Corner, you can keep the scent and sight of these beautiful plants year-round.

“We carry both cut and live Christmas trees,” owner John Blamey said. “A live tree is environmentally friendly, and we have several that do well in our area.”

A live Christmas tree should be placed in a brightly lit window and can be kept in the house for up to 14 days without sunlight.  “Be sure to keep it moist,” Blamey cautions. “Once you’ve planted it in native soil, you’ll probably want to add a soil conditioner.”

Types of live Christmas trees include Allepo pine, Italian Stone pine, Monterrey pine, Leyland Cyprus and Cedrus Deodora.

“Rosemary is really a shrub, but it can be used as a Christmas tree,” Blamey said. “The nice thing about rosemary is you can use the leaves for cooking. You’ll want to trim it to maintain its Christmas shape.”

Cut Christmas trees are farm-raised to be a Christmas tree.

“They’re not harvested out of the wild, but cultivated and sheared yearly,” Blamey said. “Part of the expense of cut Christmas trees is the attention they get over the 10 to 15 years it takes to grow them.”

John’s Corner carries only Grade 1 cut Christmas trees, the best you can buy.

“To maintain a cut Christmas tree and keep it fresh, cut off the end of the stump and put it in water as soon as you get home,” Blamey said. “Also, be sure to keep it out of drafts from your heater.”

Home remedies reported to keep Christmas trees fresh include aspirin and sugar.

“I use aspirin myself, just like my mother did,” Blamey said.

Cut Christmas trees available at John’s Corner include the Noble fir, which Blamey calls “The Cadillac of Christmas trees.” Other trees available are Nordman, Fraser and Douglas firs and Scotch pine.

Blooming plants available include amaryllis and Christmas cactus. Paperwhite narcissus is a plant that might become a favorite holiday tradition.

“Narcissus bulbs grow rapidly indoors, so the kids can watch it grow and bloom,” Blamey said. “It’s a delicate white flower, very fragrant.”

Blamey wants to clear up a misconception concerning one popular blossom.

“Poinsettias are not poisonous,” he said.

There is one type of tree that you won’t find at John’s Corner.

“We don’t carry artificial trees,” he said. “True, artificial trees may be easier to work with, but nowadays,  artificial trees are all imported, whereas live and cut trees supply a lot of jobs here in the United States.”

Now in his fifth year at John’s Corner, Blamey has spent 43 years in the retail gardening business.

Located at the corner of 42nd Street and Dixie, John’s Corner is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (432) 362-0004. MasterCard and Visa are welcome.