You’ve decided to buy a real tree this year but maybe you’re not sure how to find one which will look beautiful in your home and hold it’s needles beyond New Year, well, the following steps will guide you through the whole process.
1. Before leaving home measure the area you intend for your tree and then measure your chosen tree before paying for it, trees always look small outside and with other larger trees only to find that when you get it home it won’t fit in the space for it!
2. Check the base of the trunk, it should be light in colour if it’s not then it’s not fresh and will be more likely to lose it’s needles. The needles should be shiny and the tree should not feel light when you pick it up as this means it’s lost a lot of moisture and is already drying out.
3. Get someone to hold the tree for you so you can stand back and look it over. Look for damaged and bear branches and you’ll want it to have well-spaced branches.
4. When you get your tree home, saw off a couple of centimetres off of the base to allow more moisture to be absorbed by the layers under the bark.
5. Take it out of its wrapping and leave it in a bucket of water overnight.
6. Clear a space before bringing in your tree, you don’t want to be moving furniture around when your tree is in the house.
7. Before bringing your tree indoors give it a good shake to get rid of any loose needles while it’s still outside.
For our final blog in this series, please see: Tips for decorating your tree.
