By Mar­cheta Gibson

Inquirer Cor­re­spon­dent

Just after dark one evening in mid-November, I walked past a large Nor­way spruce tree that had been recently placed on Galion’s Pub­lic Square. It stood like a sen­tinel ready to her­ald in the season’s fes­tiv­i­ties at the tree light­ing cer­e­mony on Decem­ber 1. The four-stories-tall ever­green was already at work by fill­ing the frosty air with an incred­i­ble fra­grance, fresh and piney, that you just can­not cap­ture in a jar of wax. The old carol “O Christ­mas Tree” came to mind and brought a huge smile to my face. The Pub­lic Square tree lived its life in res­i­den­tial area, but most Christ­mas trees in Ohio are grown on Christ­mas tree farms.

Ever­green trees have become the most beloved sym­bol of the Chris­t­ian hol­i­day. If you choose a real tree this sea­son, dress warm and pre­pare to have a lot of fun shop­ping for it. Whether you visit a cut-your-own farm or shop at a Christ­mas tree lot, the outdoorsy-ness of the trip makes it feel like an adven­ture. There are a few deci­sions to con­sider: you’ve got your medium nee­dles (Scotch pine), and long nee­dles (White pine); your firs (Dou­glas , Bal­sam, and Fraser), and many more, espe­cially grown for the pur­pose of mak­ing the Christ­mas hol­i­day merry and bright. All of these trees are won­der­ful, in their own way. What I think you need to con­sider the most is how heavy your orna­ments are. Firs, like Bal­sam, Fraser, and Dou­glas will fill your home with a citrusy/piney fra­grance, but their branches do not eas­ily sup­port the weight of resin types of orna­ments. For those, a Scotch pine is a bet­ter choice. Whether cut­ting your own or choos­ing one already cut, ask the tree atten­dant make a fresh cut on the bot­tom of the trunk for bet­ter water absorp­tion when the tree is indoors. Many deal­ers will also put the tree in the tree stand for you and give you help­ful tips on how to care for the tree dur­ing the time it is inside your home. Water is the most impor­tant fac­tor, as a cut tree usu­ally needs one gal­lon of water a day to keep the nee­dles from dry­ing out.

Carl Yea­ger, pres­i­dent of the Ohio Christ­mas Tree Asso­ci­a­tion (OCTA), states on the OCTA web­site that the day after Thanks­giv­ing is tra­di­tion­ally the first day of Christ­mas tree sales. Grab­bing up retail deals on Black Fri­day is fun for many peo­ple, but if that’s not for you, why not make it a Green Fri­day by vis­it­ing your local tree farm or lot and get­ting first dibs on the selec­tion? My hus­band and I have been rais­ing ever­green trees in rural Galion since 1973. Our main busi­ness is land­scap­ing; the trees we raise for Christ­mas are for peo­ple who want a live tree. A live tree still has its roots and come “balled and burlaped” to hold the roots together. Many peo­ple like this type of tree because after Christ­mas, the tree becomes part of their land­scape. Grow­ers like us depend on larger tree farms to sup­ply our “cut” trees. Often these farms are located on acreage that can­not sup­port other crops, such as land that was strip-mined. The trees sta­bi­lize the soil, pro­tect water sup­plies, pro­vide refuge for wildlife, and cre­ate green­belts through­out the coun­try­side. And talk about a great emis­sions rat­ing! Each year of its life one ever­green tree pro­duces enough oxy­gen for 18 peo­ple. For each tree that is har­vested, three seedlings are planted in its place, con­tin­u­ing the cycle of life. When the hol­i­days have wound down and all the dec­o­ra­tions are put away, a real tree is still at work help­ing the envi­ron­ment. Most towns and cities have a tree pick up day, where the street crew will take your tree to a chip­ping sta­tion to be turned into mulch. For peo­ple with larger prop­er­ties, the tree can be taken out­side and placed in the yard to be used as a habi­tat for birds and rab­bits. An indus­try doesn’t get much greener.

To find the fresh­est trees, OCTA is here to help. If you do not have access to the Inter­net, call (740) 828‑3331 or visit your local library and sched­ule an Inter­net ses­sion. The OCTA web­site makes it easy to find a Christ­mas tree farm near you. Go to: http://ohiochristmastree.com/. From the home page, click on the link “Choose and Cut Trees”, which has an inter­ac­tive map that shows where farms are located, or you can do a search by enter­ing your zip code. How easy is that? Then load up the car with friends and fam­ily and head out for some fun in the great outdoors.

Mar­cheta Gib­son and her hus­band, Jim, have owned and oper­ated Gib­son Land­scap­ing since 1973. Along with live trees, each Christ­mas sea­son they make and sell live wreaths, swags, and grave blan­kets as well as sell­ing cut trees grown on Ohio tree farms. Their busi­ness is located at 1350 Nazor Rd., Galion, Ohio, 44833. (419) 468‑1134.