Pike Nurseries offers good tidings, tinsel and tips for the perfect Christmas tree

ATLANTA (November 25, 2017) – It’s time to deck the halls and light the tree! When it comes to celebrating beloved traditions with family and friends, Christmas trees are a time-honored way to fill a home with cheer.  For decades, Pike Nurseries has served as the Christmas headquarters to help families find the perfect Christmas tree! With approximately 30,000 trees delivered to Pike Nurseries’ store locations throughout the season, the garden center has something to suit everyone’s taste in trees! From lifelike varieties to real, fresh-cut and fragrant Christmas trees, such as Fraser, Noble and Silvertip Fir – the experts at Pike Nurseries share the scoop to make everyone a savvy tree shopper! 

Real vs. Lifelike Christmas Trees

Real Trees
For the traditionalists who prefer fragrance and fresh-cut, pliable branches, Pike Nurseries’ well-known selection of premier varieties are specially selected, cut and carried out of the forest to preserve their perfect cone shape. Once arriving at a Pike Nurseries location, each Christmas tree is carefully hand-cut, positioned in a stand filled with water to retain moisture and placed in a protected greenhouse to shield against direct sunlight, wind and rain.

The trees are then displayed upright in stands so shoppers can explore the tree forest, viewing each tree from all sides. As always, garden experts will be on-hand to offer tree maintenance tips and to carry and place the trees on customer’s vehicles. This close attention to detail and emphasis on quality care allows the Christmas trees to remain healthy and fresh for families to enjoy throughout the Christmas season.

For all real Christmas tree varieties, the experts at Pike Nurseries recommend keeping plenty of water filled in the base, with a dash of tree preservative. The trees will drink heavily when they are fresh, so be sure to keep an eye on the water level in the tree stands. Be careful to not let them get dry, which will cause premature needle dropping!

Fraser Fir Christmas Trees
This classic tree has a strong, sweet scent and sturdy, dense needles that are approximately one-half to one inch long – perfect for holding light to medium-weight ornaments. These popular beauties are grown on a family farm in the mountains of North Carolina and carefully carried – not dragged – out of the forest to preserve their fresh quality and pyramid shape. 

Noble Fir Christmas Trees
Grown in the snowy mountains of Washington, these evergreens are carefully carried out of the forest and placed on cold trucks before making their long journey across the country. Noble Fir Christmas trees are well-known for their lightly fragrant, sturdy branches with one-inch, bluish-green needles that lie along flat branches, ideal for supporting the weight of heavier ornaments.  This option is sure to bring the spirit of the snowy north into any Southern home!

Silvertip Fir Christmas Trees
*Pike Exclusive
This non-traditional favorite is extremely rare and grown in California in elevations of over 8,000 feet. They sport a light fragrance and modern style, with blue-green tips that appear silver and large, wide spacing between the limbs to nestle larger ornaments.

Snow Flocked Christmas Trees
Why dream of a white Christmas when you can have one right in the living room? Pike Nurseries continues this popular tradition with its custom tree-flocking service for any Christmas tree variety -- providing realistic, snow-covered branches that are easy to maintain! The flocking process insulates tree branches with flame retardant material, resulting in little to no needle-shedding and requires no watering!

For the best quality tree at the lowest price, Pike Nurseries offers a fresh cut 7-foot Fraser Fir Christmas Tree for $34.99. To keep things even easier, Pike Nurseries offers a Christmas Décor Package (on sale for $74.99), to help customers kick-off the decorating process with one fresh, fragrant 24-inch mixed wreath and two florist-quality 6.5-inch traditional red poinsettias, in addition to the 7-foot Fraser Fir. Shoppers can customize their décor package with a larger tree or more poinsettias and still save! Pike Nurseries also offers tree stands free with a rebate; return the stand in January to receive an in-store credit for the original price.

Lifelike Trees
For those allergic to real trees or who simply seek a more low-maintenance, reusable option year after year, Pike Nurseries also offers a selection of premium lifelike trees in a variety of shapes and sizes. All the lifelike trees are pre-lit with long-lasting, energy efficient LED lights, and many options have eight remote-controlled light functions, including steady, twinkle, glow, flash and more! Carefully designed with more tips, more lights and hinged branches for easy set-up, the look and feel of Pike Nurseries’ lifelike trees are almost identical to their fresh-cut counterparts. All Pike Nurseries lifelike Christmas trees come with a three-year warranty on lights and a 10-year warranty on the tree.

To help these trees look beautiful season after season, the Pike Nurseries’ experts recommend prepping the trees prior to assembling and decorating. Set only one section in the stand and, after the tree is secure in the stand, tie up all rows of branches (except for the lowest row) and begin working through this loose row to fully separate each tip. Pike Nurseries experts recommend putting a slight bend forward on each tip to ensure the most natural look! Once all tips on the first row are separated and “fluffed,” repeat this with each row until the first section is complete. When finished, replace the first section of the tree with the second and begin the process again, ensuring that the trunk of the tree is not visible. Repeat these steps until all sections are fully fluffed. Lastly, assemble the tree by plugging in each section to the preceding section for the grand reveal of a beautifully lit tree!

For more information on the different varieties of Christmas trees offered, as well as tips on caring for them, stop by any of the 17 Pike Nurseries locations in Georgia and North Carolina or visit www.pikenursery.com.