The early noble firs that were commercially grown began life as seeds collected from these beautiful regions (Google them) as they yield higher-grade trees. These days, their descendants are germinated in containers and babied for one to two years in nurseries before they get moved to orchards outside.
Justin Tan, the business manager of e-commerce and festive at The Green Corner, told me that the noble firs they import are from Oregon. Most of the Christmas tree homes there, according to Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, tend to be upland areas with well-drained deep soils that aren’t prone to high summer temperatures.
These saplings kick around in the cool clime for eight to 10 years to reach a height of 1.8m, said Tan, before they make their one-month, cross-continental adventure across the oceans. And while they don’t get business class seats, they are transported in refrigerated containers to keep them fresh, he said.
Nordmann firs, on the other hand, are native to the western Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea region of northern Turkey, where they grow at elevations ranging from 900m to 2,100m. They are named after Alexander von Nordmann, a Finnish zoologist.
These firs are considered “royalty” in the coniferous world as they have the “perfect” Christmas tree look. Some trees just have all the luck.
And like royalty of the human kind, Nordmanns have had their share of scandals in the form of the Great Christmas Tree Shortage of 2007. Danish growers, responsible for producing most of Europe’s Christmas trees, were alleged to have fixed prices on their coveted Nordmann firs, which led many French, Germans and Brits to not stay calm and carry on. (You can read all about it here.)
