THE CHRISTMAS TREE:
This Afghan Pine was purchased several years ago as a live 5 foot Christmas tree. After the decorations came off, we planted it in the back yard. It's about 18 feet tall now. This is a wonderful live Christmas tree to plant in North Central Texas, for it withstands the drought conditions, always looking lovely. It will grow to about 40-50 feet tall and 30 feet wide. They grow fairly rapidly too, even in our limestone rocky soil. If you purchase your Christmas tree at a tree farm, you can feel certain that you are still doing a good thing for the environoment. When tree farmers plant their trees, they usually plant three live ones for every one tree they cut. They do us a favor by having these farms, for more reasons than one. It's fun to go to a tree farm and cut your own tree, but think of the good it does you too. The air you breathe at a tree farm is pleasantly fragrant and beneficial to your health too. Photosynthesis is the way trees absorb carbon dioxide-laden air and then emits oxygen. Young trees in their rapid growth years have a high rate of photosynthesis, producing more oxygen than older trees. Many cities now have programs after Christmas to grind up the used trees and make beneficial mulch from them. The Christmas tree, a much beloved part of the season, goes way back in time. The first recorded reference to the Christmas tree dates back to 16th century. According to an article in "Country Folk Art Magazine-1994", families in Strasbourg, Germany, both rich and poor decorated fir trees with colored paper, fruits and sweets. The retail Christmas tree lot also dates back that far. Women would sell trees in the marketplaces which they had harvested from nearby forests. This European tradition was brought to North America by German settlers, and quickly caught on throughout the country. We can be so thankful that this is a part of our Christmas heritage.
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