The holidays are an exciting time, especially if this is the first time you’ve ever had a Christmas tree!

Willow Ridge carries the freshest, most beautiful trees in the area, and our experts would like to offer some tips for choosing the perfect tree.

  1. Measure your space before you head to the garden center. Will your tree be placed in a corner? In front of a window? In the middle of the room? Don’t forget you will need room to walk around the tree without accidentally knocking ornaments. Also, know the height of your ceiling as well as the height of your stand.
  2. If you don’t plan to put your tree up right away, fill a bucket with water and place it outside in an area away from sun and wind. This will allow you to put the tree directly in water as soon as you get home.
  3. Once you arrive at the garden center one of our tree experts can bring you right to the size trees that will fit your space. We color code our trees by height and give each one its own unique name for easy identification!
  4. Next, always view the tree from every angle and consider different shapes. Some trees are very narrow, some are a traditional triangle shape and others resemble more of a meatball! We love those trees and we make sure all of our trees are standing so that you can view it easily.
  5. Check for freshness! You will never have to worry about this at Willow Ridge. When our trees arrive we give them a fresh cut and keep them in a basin of water for their entire stay but, if you are buying from a pop up tree lot be sure to give the tree a hard shake and be sure there is not an excess of needles falling off.
  6. Always get a fresh cut on the bottom of the tree before you take it home. We always offer this at the garden center. A fresh cut will allow more water to be taken up by the tree once you get it home.
  7. Once your tree is up be sure to fill your stand with room temperature water right away. Check the tree for water after a couple of hours as the new cut will absorb water quickly. We have a wonderful product at the garden center called Tree Life that will keep your tree fresh through the holidays.
  8. Our last tip is, make sure you check the water in your tree daily and fill when necessary. If your tree goes dry, the cut end will begin to ‘heal’ which will keep water from absorbing.

We hope these tips have been helpful, and we look forward to becoming part of your yearly holiday tradition!