Sandy’s Garden ... Tree Cheers for Christmas

The first, fundamental question is always, “Shall we have a Christmas tree?” When we were younger, the answer didn’t take long to agree and was always, “Yes.” Then there was the second question. “Shall we have a real tree or an artificial one?” This invariably took longer to decide as we debated the merits and disadvantages of the two. The real one is ‘genuine’ or ‘traditional’. But real trees mean needle drop and require watering, not to mention the sharp needles of some varieties – and they’re not called ‘needles’ for nothing! One infamous January, as we were manoeuvring the to-be-discarded tree out of the house, a wayward branch caught the frame of a door and, in springing free, brushed across Ailsa’s face, apparently without causing any injury. However, over the ensuing days she developed a sore eye which was ascribed by the doctor to the surface of her eye having been scratched by one or more of the tree’s needles. “That scratch may take some time to heal completely,” our doctor warned her, understating the case considerably; it took, literally, years for the intermittent irritation to stop. We didn’t have another real tree during these years, believe me!

But, almost inevitably, we were contemplating returning to the realm of live trees when we saw the most drop-dead gorgeous tree in a pot in a local garden centre. It was about 5 feet tall in its pot, a Norwegian fir with the perfect shape and a lovely silvery green colour. But the price tag was a real shock. It cost £60.00 a considerable number of years ago! Still, it was a lovely tree, one to admire and to attract the admiration of friends and of neighbours passing by the window, for we were assuredly going to place this where it would be seen by passers-by. And it was in a pot; we could transfer the pot to the garden in January, bring it in the following December, repot the tree when necessary and establish a pattern which would give us a ‘free’ Christmas tree for many years to come. So, it wasn’t £60.00 for a single year; it was £20.00 for each of three years and a mere £12.00 a year if we were able to bring it in for Christmas for five years. And that’s not expensive, is it? Think of it that way …

We bought the tree; we brought it home very carefully, for it couldn’t be trapped in a net and transported horizontally in the car but had to be accommodated as upright as possible; we decorated it with genuine pleasure; we placed it in one of our lounge windows where it could be seen to best advantage from the pavement outside; and we admired it with pride at least a hundred times a day until Twelfth Night, when we carefully … very carefully! … manoeuvred the pot and its precious contents into a suitable spot in the garden. Great!

The tree liked our garden; it thrived in its pot and needed to be repotted in a larger container that first summer; I had expected it to grow: but the tree exceeded my expectations by a substantial margin. When December came, we had quite a struggle to persuade pot and tree into the house; plainly we’d be lucky to get a third year of indoor festive decoration from the tree: but we positioned it where it could be seen to best advantage; we decorated it with genuine pleasure; and we retired to bed, well content with a good job well done.

In the morning, when we came through to admire our gorgeous tree, we noticed a few tiny dark spots on the wallpaper; there were more after breakfast; and there were a lot more by lunchtime. Our tree had been chosen as an overwinter shelter and home in which to raise their families by innumerable bugs! The warmth of the house had roused some from their winter torpor and had prompted myriad eggs to hatch. We’ve had an artificial tree ever since!