Scottish Christmas Trees

It has been a busy time here at Scottish Christmas Trees. Our trees have literally flown out the door and the result is that all we have left are a few Norway Spruce Christmas trees. We started out with a stock of Christmas trees as seen in this image – you don’t want to see what it looks like now it’s pretty bare.

The Norway Spruce is what most people consider the ‘traditional’ Christmas tree so we always arrange to have plenty in stock. However, these are dwindling fast and will most likely be sold out by this weekend – or much earlier. This tree is popular with the business community as well because of its low needle drop.

Once again, it has been shown that live Christmas trees, either cut or in pots, are still maintaining their popularity. Placing an order early is the only way to guarantee a live tree at Christmas. We hold ordered trees aside and make deliveries when it is convenient for the buyer.

If you’re looking for a Christmas tree and struggling to find one that is suitable, you could try calling us to see if there are any cancellations. This rarely happens but you just never know. We do at least still have a few potted Christmas trees.

It’s about this time of year that Christmas lights start to create problems – at least, those that are more than a year old and have been stored gathering dust somewhere. There are a number of reasons why Christmas lights fail but they generally boil down to two problems:

Light Bulbs – in older string lights, it only takes one little light globe to fail and the whole set will stop working. The only way to determine the problem is to check each globe. You can do a visual holding it up to a light source, or take a small strong pen light and shine it through the bulb. The other alternative is to get a new bulb and to go through replacing each globe until you find the culprit.

Transformer Problem – strings of Christmas lights require a transformer. This drops the amount of power back to a trickle, which is all the lights need to work. Sometimes, transformers die and need replacing. It is important to replace like with like. If you use a transformer that is the wrong size then you run the risk of blowing your lights or perhaps overheating the transformer and causing a fire risk.

LED Christmas lights seem to cause the least number of problems, although over time their transformer will die as well. If you need to replace a transformer, give us a call – we may just have your transformer in stock.

If you pay a visit to our web site, one of the first things you may notice are the red banners popping up everywhere – Out of stock! is their announcement. However, it’s still not too late to give a green Christmas gift this year. We still have a number of Christmas wreaths left and a few Norway Spruce potted Christmas trees.

The Christmas trees are the gift that will keep growing and bring continued pleasure. Our Christmas wreaths would certainly make a different gift. Younger family members often don’t think about traditional decorations like live Christmas wreaths. They make a perfect Christmas gift when visiting your children or grandchildren.

Potted trees on the other hand are great to give to parents or grandparents. If they live alone, they often don’t bother fussing with a Christmas tree. A small tree in a pot could be the perfect Christmas gift. Once Christmas has been and gone, take the tree outside and it will continue to live through till next Christmas.

Whatever you do, don’t decide when it’s too late and the only thing you can find is an out of stock banner. We can still arrange for delivery any time between now and the 22nd. Giving someone a green Christmas gift is always special, especially if it’s something traditional like a tree or a wreath.

One of the joys of Christmas is to take the family, especially the younger children, and to take a tour of the Christmas lights in your area. You can just visit the Christmas lights in the main street, or you can drive around your own area – either way, I am sure the children will be fascinated.

Some towns and cities publish official ‘Christmas lights tour guides” highlighting the very best decorated homes and buildings. Some areas even conduct competitions for the best decorated house. Some of these homes use thousands of lights to create quite intricate Christmas designs.

One of the major events at this time of the year is the official lighting of the town’s Christmas tree. The Red Hot Chilly Pipers helped Dumfries switch on their Christmas lights last weekend  – the culmination of a weekend of activities and entertainment.

Christmas really is a time for sharing and for some people their method of sharing is to spread joy using Christmas lights. It works too. Christmas lights can bring smiles to even the saddest little face with the wonders of those lights erasing all.

Whether you are trying to create a lighting spectacular, or simply lighting your Christmas tree, we have a wonderful array of Christmas lights that are sure to complete the task. It’s almost Christmas again – have you taken the Christmas lights tour – better yet, have you put up your Christmas lights yet?

Cut Christmas trees are fairly hardy and will withstand a lot before finally failing,  turning yellow and dropping needles everywhere.  There is a lot you can do, or not do, that will make them last throughout Christmas.  Looking after the well-being of your tree is only one part of getting the best out of it.

Looking after your tree is important, but that is the easy part. Make sure it has plenty of water, keep it out of strong drafts and keep it away from heat sources. That’s pretty much it. Hydration is the key to keeping your tree fresh all Christmas long.

To get the best out of your tree, you need to look at what you do with it. After placing it into a Christmas tree stand, place it in the middle of the room and walk around it. Christmas trees are fairly symmetrical, but often you will find one particular face has that perfect arrangement of branches. Place your tree so that this face is on show.

Decorating. The biggest mistake we make is to over-decorate our trees. This places a lot of strain on the branches causing them to bend too far. Try to decorate your tree in a balanced way with the heavier decorations lower down and closer to the trunk. This adds to the symmetry of tree.

Another area that people err in is by placing too many lights on the tree. Christmas lights look great but too many can be overkill and spoil the overall effect. Again, look for a balanced finish.  You should be able to stand back and see both the tree and the decorations. After all, you are decorating a Christmas tree, not trying to hide it.

Place you Christmas tree in the right spot, keep it well watered, have it showing its best face, and decorate it with thought and care and you will get the very best out of your Christmas tree.

Residents of Poole in Dorset are celebrating after a 30-foot fake Christmas tree was removed and replaced with a 30-foot Norway Spruce Christmas tree (read the news story here). It took 5000 Facebook signatures to raise concerns. Unfortunately, the fake tree was only removed after being vandalised.  Commonsense has reigned and now a real tree sits in its place.

We are strongly advocating the use of real Christmas trees each year. They are not only more environmentally friendly, they look great in home and add to the spirit of Christmas with their gentle perfumes wafting about. If you are looking for a Norway Spruce this Christmas then you may be out of luck. We have sold out of all our stock and only have a nice range of Nordman Firs remaining.

Mind you, the Nordman Fir is one of the best Christmas trees to have in the home as it has a history of low needle drop with proper care. It is also one of the most popular trees used at Christmas as it is more child friendly than some of the others. The Nordman has soft needles, which makes it easier for little hands to decorate.

Being a popular tree at Christmas, our remaining stock of Nordman Fir Christmas trees won’t last much longer – call us if you are still looking for a real Christmas tree, before it’s too late.

I have seen a lot of different Christmas tree stands over the years. A couple of bricks stacked around the base of the tree; a bucket of sand; a tub of dirt; and a cement block with hole drilled through the middle. They are just some of the novel ways that people have used to hold their Christmas tree up. I have also seen a fully decorated tree, complete with lights, leaning against a wall with no support but the wall itself.

Most of these methods have one big problem – they don’t actually look after the tree. The bucket of sand idea isn’t too bad and neither is the tub of dirt. The biggest problem with these ideas is water. You can water the sand, but it has poor water retention abilities. You can water the dirt; at least it holds the water a little better. The end result is that these trees start to lose their needles well before Christmas.

If you really want your tree to last until Christmas, buy a proper Christmas tree stand. They help keep your Christmas tree standing tall whilst keeping the tree well hydrated (if you remember to fill it with water, that is). Christmas tree stands are built specifically for that job. They are so easy to use you will have your Christmas tree up and ready to decorate in no time at all.

Our potted Christmas trees have been very popular this year to the point we only have Norway Spruce trees left. In fact, at the time of writing this post, we only have the one size left, the 90cm-110cm ( 2ft11ins-3ft7ins), a size that is perfect in small areas.

There are several benefits to buying a potted Christmas tree and this is why they are becoming more popular each year. These benefits include:

• Use them again and again – if you look after your potted Christmas tree you can use for several more Christmas’s. Potted it up in spring, keeping it watered with a little fertilizer and keep it in the right environment and it will last for years.
• Low needle drop – because the tree is still alive and still growing, the needle drop rate is very low. Dehydration is the major cause of needle drop in potted Christmas trees. Keep it well watered and away from any area that will cause it to dry out and your tree will be quite happy. A happy tree equals low needle drop.
• No disposal – once Christmas is over, you don’t have to worry about disposing your old Christmas tree. Just take it outside and it will continue to grow.

Potted Christmas trees are perfect for offices and shops as well as the home. With only a few left, you need to act quickly if you want to take advantage of these features.

There are many uses for Christmas lights. Some people decorate the outside of their homes, others decorate outdoor living areas and, of course, there is the traditional decorating of the tree using Christmas lights. One other use is to decorate your windows – particularly the front window. Short of using nails in the window frames, do you know how to fix your lights to your windows?

Just looking at the image is a dead give-away. Suction cups are used for many different things these days. They can be very effective at holding decorations and strings of lights. Place a few suction cups around your window then push the Christmas lights cable into the slot in the suction cup. Done. Work your way around the window in whatever pattern or design  you like using suction cups to hold the lights in place.

Suction cups will also stick to many painted surfaces, particularly where a plastic based paint has been used. This can be great if you want to include any of the other types of lights such as curtain lights.

These suction cups can also be used to hang baubles and other Christmas decorations.  Once Christmas is over, you can just unclip the string of lights, or Christmas decoration, and ease the suction cup of the window. There is no mess, no fiddling about and no nails or adhesive tape to worry about.

Once Christmas passes us by and we recover from all the festivities, someone has the job of cleaning up. It’s hard enough cleaning up all the left over food and the Christmas wrapping paper, but what about that tree? The glamour has gone now; it just looks like hard work. It doesn’t have to be.

First, you need to de-decorate the tree. If you don’t have the original packaging then you are going to need somewhere to store it all. Here is one suggestion that is environmentally friendly – at least until next Christmas. Use all the Christmas wrapping paper to wrap your ornaments. Wrap them and store them carefully in a box.

With the Christmas lights, make sure they are cool before preparing them for storage. Unplug the lights then lay them out to their full length. Carefully roll into a loose loop and they are ready for storage. Now for the Christmas tree itself.

You have a number of options with your spent Christmas tree. You can chip it and use it as a mulch or place into a compost pile – some local councils provide this service, or you can hire a shipper from a local tool hire business. You can cut it into manageable pieces and take it to the council dump (check to see their regulations first); or you can set it aside to dry and perhaps find an alternative use for it.

One of the benefits of using a cut Christmas tree is that it is totally recyclable – what grows from the ground can be returned to the ground – your Christmas tree included.