Finding Christmas at New Hampshire tree farms

Stepping into the field at a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm is like walking into a Christmas dream. Row upon row of perfect trees surround you, along with that lovely fir tree scent reminiscent of Christmases past.

The countdown to Christmas is on, and our tree farms are aglow with the festive cheer of the season. Beyond a tree for trimming, you’ll find beautiful hand-made wreaths and garland, gifts galore, and unique holiday touches and activities that make each New Hampshire Christmas tree farm special.

There are family favorites, visited year after year for generations, and new discoveries to be made. Find your favorite New Hampshire Christmas tree farm – or pick one to explore – on our interactive map and make a visit this season.

Many farms are open right to Christmas Eve, ready and waiting to spread holiday cheer and create lasting memories!

Christmas Tree Season NOW Open at NH Tree Farms!

Ah, Thanksgiving, a time for reflecting on the good things, gathering with friends and family, eating good food, watching football… and kicking off the holiday season! Our Christmas tree farmers are ready for the holidays, with fields filled with fragrant firs, handmade wreaths, and plenty of holiday cheer.

Head to a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm to find your perfect tree for trimming. At many of our farms you’ll also find Christmas tree ornaments, a pretty selection of decorated wreaths (or plain, if you like to do your own decorating!), garland, and gift shops brimming with something for everyone on your list.

Whether you’re looking for a simple cut-your-own operation, a mail order option to have a farm fresh tree delivered right to your doorstep, or a full-fledged holiday experience, you’ll find it at a New Hampshire tree farm. Check our interactive map to find a farm near you!

Tree-trimming tips from New Hampshire

The first Christmas trees were decorated in 16^th-Centrury northern Europe with fruits, candles and paper flowers. In the 500 years since, people have been coming up with new and creative ideas for trimming the tree. There are formal Christmas trees of delicate silver and gold ornaments, bright trees bursting with colorful baubles, and homey trees trimmed with homemade decorations and treasured family ornaments.

The most important part of decorating a Christmas tree is letting your own personality and holiday traditions shine through. In a tree-trimming rut? Well, here are some ideas from New Hampshire Christmas tree growers to help spice things up a bit:

* String a wide ribbon with festive colors through your tree’s branches as a garland.

* If you normally use small, white tree lights, switch things up with colored bulbs. Christmas lights are even available in efficient LED varieties now, so check out your options and see what you like.

* Pick a theme that suits your family’s style or that is reminiscent of the year just past. Love the beach? Trim your tree with shells and seashore colors. Excited for winter? Make paper snowflakes to adorn the tree. Nature lover? Figurines of birds and other animals make great tree decorations!

* Get creative and craft some new ornaments. Tissue paper flowers held by pipe cleaners are easy to make and add a pop of color to the tree.

* Bring a bit of nature inside by hanging pinecones or dried flowers on your tree.

* Spice it up with sticks of cinnamon wrapped with ribbon. Or hang candy canes from the boughs.

Of course, if you’re a traditionalist, you may cherish pulling out those old ornaments collected over a lifetime each holiday season. Some families purchase a new ornament each year to add to the collection, and we'd bet your family has some tree-trimming tradition that is followed year after year: popcorn and cranberries or silver tinsel or the special star for the top of the tree.

Whether you plan to follow tradition or break in a new idea this year, be sure to start with a beautiful, fragrant, farm fresh Christmas tree! Looking for a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm? Check out our interactive map. 

Happy holidays and merry tree trimming!

Wrapping up a great season at New Hampshire Christmas tree farms

Thanks to everyone who visited a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm this season… our growers are always happy to help customers deck the halls for the holidays!

Our small tree farms do a healthy business in only a few short weeks each year – about $4 million worth. But when folks visit our farms to find a fresh tree, a beautiful wreath, or a unique gift, they also stop along the way at local restaurants, shops, and inns. We’re glad to be a part of the Granite State’s thriving holiday industry.

To learn more about New Hampshire Christmas tree farms, check out this fun story from New Hampshire Public Radio. 

After the holidays, tree farmers get to relax a bit and enjoy some downtime. But soon we’ll be back out in the fields, planting, pruning, shearing, mowing, and fertilizing. Rest assured, when Christmas rolls around again, we’ll have plenty of beautiful trees at the ready – for years to come. We hope to see you again next Christmas season!

In the meantime, if your Christmas tree is still out on the front porch or in the yard, and you’re wondering what to do with it now that the holidays are over, visit this page of the National Christmas Tree Association’s website for recycling tips – and to see some of the cool ways recycled trees are put to good use. 

Merry Christmas from New Hampshire’s Christmas Tree Farms!

With only a week to go until Christmas, there’s still plenty of festive to go around at New Hampshire’s Christmas tree farms! Most of our farms are open through this weekend, with retail lots, cut-your-own tree, and holiday shopping available. Some farms cater to the last-minute holiday shoppers out there and will be open right through Christmas Eve.

To find out what’s happening at your favorite tree farm as the big day approaches, check out our interactive map and click on your farm of choice for details. 

Those of you who have already found your perfect Christmas tree and brought it home for trimming can find tips for keeping your tree farm fresh through the holidays at the tree care page on our website. 

And if you’re wondering what to do with your tree after the holidays, visit this page of the National Christmas Tree Association’s website for recycling tips – and to see some of the cool ways recycled trees are put to good use. 

From our farms to your home, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Welcoming the holidays at New Hampshire Christmas tree farms

It’s that time of year again… There’s a crispness to the breeze, a frost of white on the mountain peaks, and a magical twinkle in the air. Must be Christmastime!

At Christmas tree farms throughout New Hampshire, we look forward to this season all year long. Our farmers are busy through the hot summer months planting and pruning and shearing by hand many thousands of trees. So we love to see that work pay off with the coming of the Christmas season, when families arrive at our farms to find their perfect trees, browse gift shops, select hand-made wreaths, and enjoy the myriad other festivities of the holidays on the farm.

Each of our tree farms has distinct offerings, from choose-and-cut Christmas trees and horse-drawn wagon rides to Christmas carols and visits from Santa Claus. To find a farm to visit and learn more about what each one offers, explore our interactive map of New Hampshire Christmas tree farms. 

And before you head out to find your perfect tree for trimming, check out these Christmas tree selection tips from the pros: our farmers. You’ll also find suggestions for keeping your farm fresh Christmas tree, well, fresh, through the season at our website. For ideas on celebrating a green Christmas, check out this Blog post from a Christmas past.

We hope to see you this Christmas tree season at a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm!

Keeping your Christmas tree farm fresh

Once you’ve selected your farm fresh Christmas tree from your favorite New Hampshire Christmas tree farm, there are a few things you can do to keep it fresh and fragrant through the holidays. When a Christmas tree is cut, more than half its weight is water, so much of keeping your tree happy involves making sure it’s able to take in the water it needs. Here are some tips for keeping your Christmas tree farm fresh!

    * Before you set your tree up, cut the bottom ½-inch from the trunk. Then place your Christmas tree in water.

    * Make sure your tree stand is the right size for your tree – and that it can hold plenty of water in the reservoir. Christmas tree stands should provide a quart of water per inch of stem diameter.

    * Check the water level regularly to ensure the base of the tree is submerged.

    * Keep your tree away from heat sources like fireplaces and radiators to prevent excessive drying.

    * Use Christmas tree lights that produce only low heat to prevent drying. Lights should be inspected prior to use and replaced if they are worn. And they should always be turned off when you’re leaving the house or going to bed!

    * When you’re ready to bid adieu to your Christmas tree after the holidays, check with your local transfer station on recycling options. Christmas trees should never be burned in a wood stove or fireplace, as they create creosote and can lead to a chimney fire.

For more tips on keeping your tree farm fresh, visit the New Hampshire Christmas Tree’s tree care page. 

 

From our farms in New Hampshire, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

The Winter Wonderland of New Hampshire Christmas tree farms

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in New Hampshire, with frosted mountains, snowy fields, and Christmas decorations twinkling from the windows. And there’s still time to find the perfect Christmas tree at a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm!

If you haven’t had the chance to visit your favorite New Hampshire Christmas tree farm yet, don’t fret – many of our farms are open right through Christmas Eve! Some even offer overnight deals in collaboration with area inns and hotels – so you can come for the day, or for the weekend!

With row upon row of beautifully shaped, carefully tended Christmas trees lining the fields, shops featuring handmade wreaths and unique holiday gifts and decorations, and plenty of festive activities, our Christmas tree farms offer up plenty of Christmas spirit.

To find the right New Hampshire Christmas tree farm for you and your family to visit this season, and to check hours of operation, we invite you to check out our interactive map.

Merry Christmas to all!

Trees for Troops – Delivering holiday cheer, one Christmas tree at a time

This holiday season, Trees for Troops hopes to deliver its 100,000^th farm fresh Christmas tree to a military family. Founded in 2005 as a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, Trees for Troops collaborates with Christmas tree growers throughout the United States to provide real Christmas trees to United States military personnel stationed in the U.S. and abroad.

Many of our New Hampshire Christmas tree growers donate farm fresh trees to Trees for Troops and accept donations to the program from customers. Some 700 tree farms throughout the country allow Trees for Troops to deliver about 17,000 Christmas trees to U.S. troops each year. Last year, Trees for Troops delivered 17,224 trees to 59 military bases, including seven bases overseas.

For Christmas tree farms and their customers, Trees for Troops offers a way to spread a little holiday cheer – one Christmas tree at a time – and to thank the men and women in our country’s armed services, who often spend the holidays away from home and family.

You can help by visiting a participating farm – many of them have special events or sales dedicated to Trees for Troops. To learn more about the program please visit the Trees for Troops website. 

Happy holidays to all of you – wherever you may be.

Swing into the holidays with a visit to a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm!

New Hampshire’s many Christmas tree farms are like scenes from a Christmas card – rolling hills lines with perfectly shaped fir trees, snow-covered landscapes, and festive dashes of holiday color.

Many of our farms offer special touches like caroling, visits from Santa, rich hot cocoa, and horse-drawn sleigh rides to provide the perfect scene for finding a perfect Christmas tree. As the holidays near, we invite you to explore our list of New Hampshire Christmas tree farms to find the place where you’ll get YOUR Christmas tree this year!

There are several farms throughout the state where shoppers can meander through snowy fields to find their own perfect tree to harvest, or simply select one from the farms’ on-site retail lots. Many of our farms also sell holiday wreaths and garland, Christmas decorations, and unique gifts.

Some farms also offer vacation packages that include a Christmas tree from a local tree farm and lodging at a selection of area inns and hotels. Whether you’re looking for a romantic getaway at a charming New England inn or a family outing at a larger hotel, this is a wonderful way to get into the holiday spirit!

With so many wonderful options, we know your trip to a New Hampshire Christmas tree farm this season will yield a fantastic tree for trimming and lasting Christmas memories for years to come!

Christmas Tree Trivia

Have you ever wondered how long it takes to grow a Christmas tree? Or when the tradition of hauling an evergreen inside during the darkest days of winter started? As New Hampshire Christmas tree farms prepare for the upcoming holiday season, we share some Christmas tree trivia...

• The first record of a decorated Christmas tree comes from 500 years ago! Local merchants in Latvia decorated a tree in 1510 with artificial roses and danced around it before setting fire to it. (Today, of course, Christmas tree decorations are much more varied, and we leave the tree up to admire it and celebrate the season for much longer!)
• During the 1600s, Christmas trees were popular in Germany and were often decorated with apples.
• Americans caught onto the tree craze in the 1800s, and by the 1850s, Christmas trees were being sold commercially in the United States. Initially, these trees were cut from forests, but in 1901, the first Christmas tree farm was started in New Jersey. Today, some 30 million farm fresh Christmas trees are sold each year in the United States.
•  In 1853, President Franklin Pierce, who hailed from New Hampshire, brought the first White House Christmas tree to the Capital.
• Today, Christmas trees are grown on farms in every state, translating to some 15,000 Christmas tree farms, 350,000 acres in production, 350 million trees currently growing, and more than 100,000 local jobs! (Artificial trees, conversely, are generally produced in China and other Asian countries, using harmful heavy metals and petroleum products.)
• For every farm fresh Christmas tree harvested during the holiday season, tree growers plant 1 to 3 seedlings the following spring.
• It takes those seedlings several years to make it to Christmas tree height – an average of seven years.
• The most common types of Christmas trees grown by New Hampshire farmers are Balsam fir and Fraser fir.