What Kind of Christmas Tree Should I Get

How it works

Standing in the tree lot, not sure which one to take home? Press the button for one of the best-selling real Christmas trees in North America, with its needles and where it grows. The full list holds 33 kinds.

Read the full guide

Fir, spruce or pine: look at the needles

Fir needles grow one by one from the branch, and most are flat. Spruce needles are four-sided and sit on small pegs that stay on the twig when the needle falls. Pine needles grow in bundles, usually of two to five.

Think about the floor and the ornaments

Spruces start to lose their needles quickly once cut, and the needles are often sharp. Eastern white pine has limp branches that carry only the lightest ornaments.

Short on room? Year-old stone pine seedlings are sold as table-top trees, and a Norfolk Island pine stays on as a houseplant.

Questions and answers

What is the most popular kind of Christmas tree?

Wikipedia’s article on Christmas tree cultivation lists the best sellers in North America as Scots pine, Douglas fir, noble fir, balsam fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine and eastern white pine. In Great Britain it names Nordmann fir, and across Europe Norway spruce.

Which Christmas tree keeps its needles the longest?

A fir. Wikipedia’s fir article calls Nordmann, noble, Fraser and balsam fir the best Christmas trees because their foliage sheds few needles as it dries out. White fir and Scots pine hold theirs well too.

Which Christmas tree smells the strongest?

Wikipedia’s balsam fir article calls balsam fir the most fragrant of all Christmas tree varieties. Monterey cypress has a lemony scent when its leaves are crushed.

Is a Douglas fir a real fir?

No. Despite its name it is not a true fir, a spruce or a pine. It has been a common Christmas tree since the 1920s, and half of the trees grown in the US Pacific Northwest are Douglas fir.

All 33 trees

Best sellers in North America 7

Balsam fir Canada and the northeastern United States. Flat, dark green needles, the most fragrant of all.
Douglas fir Western North America. Not a true fir. Flat, soft needles that stand all round the branch.
Eastern white pine Eastern North America. Long, flexible, bluish-green needles on limp branches that suit light ornaments.
Fraser fir Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern United States. Dark green needles that spiral round the twig.
Noble fir Cascade and Coast Ranges of the Pacific Northwest. Blue-green needles with a blunt or notched tip.
Scots pine Western Europe to Eastern Siberia. Blue-green needles in pairs that do not shed easily.
Virginia pine Long Island south to Alabama. Short, twisted, yellow-green needles in pairs, with sharp tips.

Most used in northern Europe 6

European silver fir Mountains of Europe. Glossy dark green needles. The first species used as a Christmas tree.
Nordmann fir Mountains south and east of the Black Sea. Glossy dark green needles, not sharp and slow to drop.
Norway spruce Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Short, dark green, four-sided needles with blunt tips.
Serbian spruce Drina River valley of Serbia and Bosnia. Flat needles, dark green above and blue-white below.
Stone pine Mediterranean region. Flexible mid-green needles in pairs. Year-old seedlings sell as table-top trees.
Swiss pine Alps and Carpathian Mountains of central Europe. Needles in bundles of five.

Firs 5

Grand fir Northwestern North America. Glossy dark green needles that lie flat on either side of the shoot.
Korean fir Higher mountains of South Korea. Glossy dark green needles with vivid white bands underneath.
Red fir Mountains of southwest Oregon and California. Blue-green needles. Also called silvertip fir.
Subalpine fir Western North America. Flat needles, waxy green above with two blue-white bands below.
White fir Mountains of western North America. Soft, green to blue-green needles that it holds well.

Spruces 2

Blue spruce Six western US states, Idaho to Arizona. Stiff, four-sided, sharply pointed needles, often blue-green.
White spruce Canada and the northern United States. Short blue-green needles.

Pines 5

Jeffrey pine Southwest Oregon to northern Baja California. Long, stout, gray-green needles in bundles of three.
Monterey pine Native to coastal California; by far the most common Christmas tree in Australia. Bright green needles in threes.
Pinyon pine Southwestern United States. Needles usually two to a bundle. Now and then cut as a Christmas tree near where it grows.
Sand pine Florida and the Alabama coast. Needles in pairs. Grown as a Christmas tree in Florida.
Spruce pine Coastal plains from South Carolina to Louisiana. Slender, glossy dark green needles in twos.

Cypresses and other trees 8

Albany woolly bush South coast of Western Australia. A shrub with very soft, hairy leaves, sold as a potted tree.
Arizona cypress Southwestern United States and Mexico. Scale-like leaves in dense sprays, gray-green to blue-green.
Eastern red cedar Eastern North America. A juniper with scale-like leaves. A common Christmas tree in the Ozarks.
Giant sequoia Sierra Nevada of California. Small, awl-shaped leaves. Some growers in the US Northwest farm it.
Leyland cypress A hybrid of two cypresses, farmed in Alabama. Tiny leaves held close to the twig, slightly aromatic.
Monterey cypress Central Coast of California. Bright green scale-like leaves with a lemony scent when crushed.
Norfolk Island pine Norfolk Island in the Pacific. Soft, awl-shaped young leaves. A houseplant where winters are cold.
Paraná pine Southern Brazil. Thick, triangular leaves with sharp edges. Used young, when it looks like a pine.