The facts about the Fraser Fir

At this Christmas season, many of you have purchased a live tree to grace your home. In fact, this tree is probably the centerpiece of your interior décor.

The National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) suggests that this season some 36 million U.S. families plan to focus their holiday traditions around a live Christmas tree. The NCTA also reports that about one-fourth of consumers will purchase their trees from a Christmas tree farm while the rest will buy trees from a retail lot.

About 300,000 consumers will purchase their live trees over the internet or by mail order.

Do you have a favorite type of tree you seek out for Christmas, or do you just buy the first tree you see on the lot or on the farm? Well, if you’re like me you look for the perfectly shaped, fullest, most beautiful tree you can find. Most often, this is the ever graceful Fraser Fir.

The Fraser Fir may be the perfect holiday tree. Its attractive one-inch needles are silvery green and soft to the touch. Because of the spaces between the branches, the Fraser Fir is easier to decorate than most trees. The firm branches hold heavier ornaments and, if watered properly, they exhibit excellent needle retention.

The Fraser Fir has been used more times as the official Christmas tree of the President of the United State’s White House than any other type of tree.

The Fraser Fir was named for 18th century botanist John Fraser (1750-1811), a Scottish botanist who explored the southern Appalachian Mountains in the late 18th century. The Fraser Fir is sometimes called Southern Balsam Fir. This species is a uniformly pyramid-shaped tree which reaches a maximum height of about 80 feet and a diameter of one to one-and-one-half feet.

The Fraser Fir is monecious meaning that both male and female flowers occur on the same tree. Flowers are wind pollinated in May and June and cones mature in a single season. At maturity, cones are 2-21/2 inches long, and ripen September through November.

Fraser Fir prefers full sun but will tolerate some shade. It is usually found on fertile, rocky to sandy acidic soils. Its natural companions are red spruce, beech and yellow birch, and rhododendron.

Fraser Fir has a fairly restricted range. It is found naturally only at elevations above 4,500 feet in the Southern Appalachian Mountains from southwest Virginia through western North Carolina and into eastern Tennessee. Its highest habitat is Mt. Mitchell, N.C. (elevation 6,684 feet), which is the highest point east of the Mississippi River.

The combination of form, needle retention, dark blue-green color, pleasant scent and excellent shipping characteristics has led to the Fraser Fir being the most popular Christmas tree species.

North Carolina produces the majority of Fraser Firs. Seven to 10 years are required to produce a typical six to seven foot tree.

Other Fraser Fir facts:

• North Carolina has an estimated 50 million Fraser Fir trees growing on over 25,000 acres.

• Fraser Fir represents over 95% of all species grown in N.C.

• There are over 1,600 N.C. growers of Fraser Firs.

• North Carolina produces over 19% of all live Christmas trees grown in the U.S.

• The North Carolina Fraser Fir is the most popular Christmas tree grown in North America and is shipped into every state in the U.S. as well as the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Japan, and other countries.

• There are approximately 400 “choose and cut ” Christmas tree farms in North Carolina.

• Fraser Fir is grown mostly in 18 counties in the far Western section of North Carolina.

Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, gardening writer, former Perry High School horticulture instructor, and former horticulturalist at Henderson Village and Houston Springs. He and his wife, Susan, own and operate Lewis Farms Nursery located on Georgia Hwy 26 two miles east of Elko, where he was born and raised. He can be reached at (478) 954-1507 or timlewis1@windstream.net.

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