UK Grown ...and delivered!
Christmas Trees were not always specially grown in Britain. Back in the day ...sometime in the 19th Century, Christmas Trees became really popular, probably in Germany first where they had notable appendages to the festive season for at least 300 years. If you are interested our friends at Wikipedia will give you a very detailed history. In Britain where the tradition of decorating churches with evergreens at Christmas was long established it was not until a German queen of England first introduced Christmas Tree decoration at Christmas that it became ‘a thing’ but it caught on quick so by the time Queen Victoria was a small child it was becoming a familiar practice. Her marriage to Albert accelerated the process and by mid-century it was very à la mode and then it went viral as they say.
Most trees were imported until a restriction in tree imports gave birth to a new industry. Latest statistics suggest that demand continues to grow with 10-12 million trees cut and delivered to satisfy the insatiable demand each year. Some trees are still imported, the most notable being the one gifted each year since 1947 by the people of Norway to the people of Britain. This was as a token of gratitude for the support Norway received from Britain during WW2. There are still 2-3 million trees imported into Britain each year but here at Pines and Needles we are glad to report that the trees that we sell are grown on our own Scottish plantations.
Scotland is a great pace to grow Christmas Trees. We grow, Nordmann fir, Norway spruce and pot-grown Fraser fir. We plant small trees every year, 2 for every 1 we sell in the previous season. This ensures we replenish our plantations in a sustainable manner.
As the trees are growing, they are nurtured and pruned, well what the hell do you think we do in the summer months?!! The pruning is particularly important to ensure that the tree shape is what we have all come to expect. As the season approaches, we start to grade the trees for condition and height. The trees are labelled ready for cutting. The trees are not all cut at the same time but as close to our pop-up shop openings as possible.
It is quite a logistical feat to ship our trees, the majority to London, so that they arrive on time and in pristine condition. We also ship nationwide so the shipping process is one that continues right up until Christmas Eve. The pop-up shop locations are important because we can continue to look after the trees right up until the time they are picked up or that we deliver them locally.
Our real Christmas Trees tend to speak for themselves, and we offer a very wide range from 3ft pot-grown Fraser Firs right up to 12ft Nordmann Fir and Norway Spruce trees which tend to end up outside schools and churches.
We are really proud to be a UK retailer with a UK grown product and we like to flaunt our Scottish roots by kitting our teams with kilts so our customers can be in no doubt where our trees are from. This sense of family fun runs right the way through our business. We are sure you’ll agree if you visit one of pop-up stores. By the way now seems as good a time as any to remind our customers that our stores are opening on the 17th of November. Be sure to get the family ready, come along and visit the finest Christmas Tree, decoration, and accessory emporium in London.
