I like the smell and appearance of a real Christmas tree, but as someone who loves growing things, it seemed a shame to buy one without roots and recycle it every year. For several years, I tried buying rooted ones and keeping them in a pot so they could be brought inside at Christmas, but I failed to each time give them enough water in the summer, consequently this never worked. I decided instead to try planting a tree in the ground, and digging it up and putting it in a pot in the house for a short length of time over Christmas. This is effectively making a Bonsai tree, it's growth is reduced by damage to the roots every time I dig it up, but this has worked now for a number of years.
Looking back over the photos on my phone, they only go back to 2015, the tree was quite small then, so maybe 2015 was the first year I had it. This means though that I have had this Christmas tree into the house six times, it would have been seven, but Christmas 2020 was strange, we spent most of the time in the garden, and I didn't bring the tree indoors. This year it looks tremendous, having been left in the ground for two years, it has had a growth spurt, and is reaching for the ceiling. I thought I'd share the experience of this tree, so here are the photos, starting with this year's:
I think it's at its best with the fairy lights on and the room in darkness, but the phone camera struggles to get a good photo, is this better:
It looks so lovely with the lights on, but the photo still isn't good
Maybe that's better? Dark outside, lights on and light on inside!
Is this the most photographed tree? This is the delightful thing about this time of year, once the turkey has been cooked, there is time to contemplate other things.
Anyway you get the idea, the tree is a reasonable size, although because it has been grown under other trees and then by a fence, it's not as straight as it could be. I haven't photographed it much previously, so there are no photos for 2020 because it didn't come inside, in 2019 I didn't photograph it, so we have to go back to 2018 to see it looking like this:
it was much more compact and the needles weren't as lush, here it is before being brought in:
and 2017 there aren't any photos of the tree, here it is in 2016:
and outside:
and this is the first known photo of the tree in 2015:
As you can see it was very small. I'll plant the tree outside again soon and hope to be able to bring it in again next year to join in the festivities. The wonderful tree aroma is missing because I think the tree isn't damaged or oozing sap, I could squash a few needles to get the smell if I wanted, but I'd rather appreciate the tree.
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