'People are coming back to the natural tree:' P.E.I. grower reflects on Christmas tree trends

Did you know Christmas trees have been cultivated on P.E.I. only since the1970s?

• Charlottetown white Christmas chances melting away

• CBC PEI favourite Christmas tree ornaments

David Smith was one of the very first growers to try it, after the province sponsored a tour of tree farms in neighbouring New Brunswick and encouraged local farmers to try it.

Onefellawill think it's ugly and the next person will like the tree. It's an individual thing. David Smith

"We were just looking for something to make a few dollars at," Smith told CBC Radio: Mainstreet's Angela Walker, sharing some of the trends he's noticed over the years.

Smith started with less than half a hectare and now has trees on 32 hectares, or about 80 acres. Customers on his Mayfield, P.E.I., farm can cut their own, and urban customers can pick up a Smith Farms balsam fir at the Canadian Tire parking lot.

Wild or cultivated?

Back in the '70s Islanders were used to cutting their own natural "Charlie Brown" trees, and Smith notes it took a while for the full, bushy look of cultivated trees to catch on.

"Now people are looking for that type of a tree," he said.

To get that look, Smith uses weed control, fertilizer, and annual pruning for shape.

"It's a lot of work," he said.

Fresh v. fake

Smith has seen tree trends come and go,from fresh to fake and back again.

"People are coming back to the natural tree," he said. "I guess it runs a cycle."

"The smell of the tree when they come into a warm place," is the reason Smith said he'sbeen told people return to a real tree.

Some people also prefer what Smith calls an old-fashioned less bushy tree.

They're also starting to put them up earlier in the season.

"Quite a few people are putting them up the first of December," and some even earlier, he said, noting trees can dry out after several weeks.

Good selling season

Sales of trees have been brisk, Smith said, and he's now cutting from his land only "as needed."

"We're trying to hold the line on prices," he said, even though farmers' costs continue to rise. Prices for his trees range from $30 to $40.

Perfect shape?

Like people, Christmas trees come in many shapes and sizes and Smith said the perfect shape is all a matter of taste.

"Everybody's different. One fella will think it's ugly and the next person will like the tree. It's an individual thing."

Smith prefers an inverted ice cream cone shape with dense foliage so the tree'strunk is not visible.

Hard to please

Once a customer set off to search for a tree on his property at lunchtime, Smith recalls but after perusing his entire property of 17,000 trees, she came back at suppertimeempty-handed.

"Maybe she just wanted to walk in the bush!" he laughed.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS IChristmas memories from P.E.I.'s Sleepytown Express
• MORE PE.I. NEWS IChristmas charity: How much to give, and to whom?: Your comments