evergreen fun facts

12/15/11
Newsletter Topics

#1 - Tips of the Week

#3 - Rose Certificates and Gift Cards

#2 - Plants of the Week

#4 - Reindeer

#6 - Christmas Celebrated

#5 - Gift Ideas

#7 - Evergreen fun facts

Evergreen fun facts

Twas the Week before Christmas

With9 days to go before the big day, I thought it would be fun to include some facts on how evergreen trees affect this holiday.

• The use of evergreen trees to celebrate the winter season occurred before the birth of Christ.

• The best selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Frasier fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.

• Other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past.

• The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.

• Christmas Trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.

• On average, over 2,000 Christmas trees are planted per acre.

• 2-3 seedlings are planted for every harvested Christmas tree. In 2004 sixty million Christmas tree seedlings were planted by Christmas tree farmers.

• Christmas trees take an average of 7-10 years to mature.

• 30 – 35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. every year.

• In 2008 78% of Christmas trees purchased were pre-cut and 22% were cut your own.

• In 2009, 446,996 acres of land in the U.S. were in Christmas tree production with Oregon leading the way with 67,804 acres.

• 93% of real Christmas tree consumers recycle their tree in community recycling programs, their garden or backyard.

• Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the white house for environmental reasons.

• In 2002, 32 percent of Christmas trees displayed in the United States were real trees, 69% were fake trees.

• Artificial trees last for six years in your home, but for centuries in a landfill.

Additional Information about Holiday Fruit that comes from Trees
• We all hear the much of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” at Christmas, but the only section most of us can name is the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”. So what is a sugar plum, anyway? Well in 17th century England, the word plum was used to describe just about any dried fruit, which was considered a delicacy. Adding sugar made it an extra special treat for children, and given on rare occasions, such as Christmas.

• Speaking of plums, another traditional English Christmas dish still served in many places today is plum pudding. Originally it was a soup made with beef, mutton, and dried plums (or prunes), but later, the meat and the prunes were removed, raisins were added, and it was turned into a cake. Today, plum pudding is really a form or raisin cake.

• Another Christmas dish which isn’t what it sounds like is mincemeat pie. Again, it was originally a pie made with meat-minced and spices. But, over time, the meat was replaced with fruit. But the name stuck.