Oh, Christmas Tree! 6 Fun Facts

Did You Know?

1. Besides evergreens, other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past.
2. 98 percent of all real Christmas trees are grown sustainably on farms as crops like corn or pumpkins, while only 2% are cut from the wild.
3. In 2012, 46 million Christmas tree seedlings were planted by U.S. growers.
4. In 2012, 18,623 acres were planted with Christmas trees in New York state (for perspective, Highland Park is only 20 acres).
5. An acre of Christmas trees provides the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people.
6. The tallest cut Christmas tree on record stood 221 feet tall – the Douglas fir was decorated and put on display in 1950 at a shopping center in Seattle, Washington.

BONUS Fun Fact:

It’s much more environmentally-friendly to have a real tree than an artificial tree! Real Christmas trees are a renewable, recyclable, natural product grown on farms, and once they are harvested, new seedlings are planted to replace harvested trees. These would NOT have been planted if trees hadn’t been harvested the previous year.  Fake Christmas trees are a non-renewable, non-biodegradable, plastic and metal product most often made in overseas factories.*

And, you can recycle your real Christmas tree!  Trees picked up in the Town of Greece and City of Rochester are chipped and then used as mulch all year round (just remember to remove all decorations, plastic bags, wires & nails before leaving them curbside so they are safe to chip).

*Source: National Christmas Tree Association