Interesting questions today:

We live in Arizona and used to put our tree in the swimming pool when we had chlorine and it seemed to last longer. Now we have a salt chlorinated pool is it still ok to put it into the pool?

12/09 - Watering; Longevity
12/06 - Allergies
12/03 - Trees for Troops
12/01 - Hot Water for Trees?
11/30 - Colorants
11/29 - More Pets; Trees for Troops
11/28 - Pets & Trees
11/27 - Flocking
11/26 - First Blog Entry
  When to Buy a Real Tree
  Real Tree Care
  White House Tree; Grand Champions

From: Scott
Subject: Birch Pines

Good afternoon,

At my place of employment we are discussing the pros & cons of various Christmas tree species. One of my fellow co-workers is stating that he has found a place that is selling Birch Pines. because of this he is taking quiet a bit of flak due to no one else being able to find documentation of that species. Could you please settle this discussion before we purchase live tree's for this holiday season.

Never heard of a "Birch Pine" species grown as a Christmas Tree, nor can I find it listed on the Arbor Day Foundation's tree guide http://arborday.org/trees/treeguide/browsetrees.cfm?Sort=Common.

However, that doesn't mean that I don't believe your co-worker when he says there's a place selling "Birch Pines" as Christmas Trees. It's not terribly uncommon for a species of tree to be referred to in unique regional lexicon names. For example, the Red Fir is a species native to northern California and not uncommon in western states, but to most people in California, they are not referred to as "Red Fir" but as "Silvertip." Another example would be Concolor Fir, which is commonly referred to as "White Fir" even though it's scientific name is abies concolor Hildebr. Often this is the result of various "cultivars" of the same species being grown by different growers.

So, while Birch Pine is not a species unto itself, I would say the "flack" he is receiving should be reserved until he is proven wrong by a visit to the retail location itself. They may indeed be selling a tree which they call "Birch Pine."

The main blog contributor is Rick Dungey, who works as Public Relations Manager for the National Christmas Tree Association. Other people on the NCTA staff and members of NCTA will also contribute posts. Rick has answered media and consumer inquiries for NCTA for more than 9 years. You are welcome to send responses or questions to the blog, but be aware that not all posts will be made public and all will be reviewed prior to posting.

We look forward to your input – if you have a question or comment to share, send it to info@realchristmastrees.org

Please note: we use a fairly sensitive e-mail spam filter. Please try to use an obvious phrase in the subject line, such as "Christmas Tree Question" or "Blog Topic."

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