Christmas Trees You Can Replant

When the end of the festive period rolls around, many of us simply drag out our Christmas trees to the curb and wait for them to be taken away. And there’s nothing wrong with this! It’s what all of us who buy real Christmas trees rather than fake ones do all the time. However, it’s important to note that it’s not the only option available to you.

There are also Christmas trees you can replant. So what does this mean exactly? Well, you get a living tree, bring it into your home for the festive period, and then when it’s all over, you can take it back outside and plant it in your garden. But of course, there is a process to this, and it’s not something that you can just decide to do when you’re trying to get rid of your Christmas tree — the process begins well before that stage.

The key thing to do is to invest in a live tree. That’s exactly what it sounds like — it’s a tree that’s still alive. Most Christmas trees are dead, which is why they sometimes don’t look as good by the end of the Christmas period as they did when you first brought it into your house. A living Christmas tree will remain alive during the same period, which means it’ll continue to look fantastic!

But that’s not the only reason why you might consider investing in a Christmas tree that you can replant. Think about this: the Christmas period is the most magical time of year, yet things can feel a little sad once the period is over. In fact, it’s sometimes sad just to take out the Christmas tree! When you have a tree that you can replant, you’ll be able to look out into your garden and see the tree that brought you so much joy during the festive period.

How to replant a tree

The process of replanting a tree begins even before you begin looking for the tree you’re going to buy. If you live in a part of the world where the ground often becomes frozen, then you’ll need to dig a hole where you’ll replant the tree before things become solid. While the ground might be soft by the time you pick up the tree, the weather can snap at any moment once January rolls around — if you haven’t already dug your hole, then you might struggle to get the tree in the ground without using specialized equipment.

So as soon as you know that you’re going to buy a tree you can replant, get to work — there’s no point wasting time! If you end up not buying a tree, then you can just refill the dirt. Pay particular attention to the location of where you’ll plant the tree. When you first get it into the ground, you’ll find that it takes up X amount of space, but then think about this: that tree is going to grow! Of course, it won’t grow overnight; it’ll take years. But at some point, you might find that it’s impacting your property in ways that you didn’t imagine, such as blocking sunlight to an important part of your garden. A little bit of thinking ahead of time can resolve this potential problem, however.

The process of ensuring that the tree is able to thrive when it’s outside your home depends on how you treat it when it’s inside your home. Because this tree is alive, you won’t be able to keep it in your house for as long as you could keep a cut tree. Those trees are already dead, so it doesn’t matter how long it stands inside your home! But when you invest in a live tree, you need to make sure that it’s still alive by the time you take it outdoors.

Keeping the tree alive

So how do you keep the tree alive? The first step is to keep the time it spends inside your house to a minimum. It’ll survive for a week to a week and a half at most, so make sure you’ve got plans to move it before that time arrives. When you first pick up your tree, it’ll be best to keep it outside, where the temperature is colder. That’s because the tree will have gone into a dormant state in those conditions, so it needs to stay in that condition for as long as possible. You can store it there until you’re ready to bring the tree indoors, at which point you’ll have a week or so.

Once it’s inside, you’ll need to think about where you’re placing the tree before you get to work on decorating it. When you buy a cut tree, you can place it wherever you want since you’re not planning to replant it once it’s all over! However, things are different when you’ve got a live tree. They need to be placed in specific conditions. For instance, it’s best to avoid all drafts and to keep them away from sources of heat, such as radiators or heaters. The root ball should be plastic wrapped, or you can even use wet moss if you want to keep things all natural!

From that point, it’s all about decorating the tree and enjoying all the magic that it brings to your life! So what about when Christmas is over? Then begins the process of moving it back into the outdoors. To begin with, you’ll want to be careful with the tree, so you don’t damage it. If you think that the tree started to leave its dormant state, then you’ll need to place the tree outside your property in the cold for a week or so so it can reenter the state.

Once that’s all done, you can get to work on putting the tree back in the ground. Take over any coverings that you had over the tree, put it in the hole, fill the hole up, add some mulch, and then water it. It’ll be absolutely fine! From there you’ll just need to let it do its thing.

The Benefits of Replanting Christmas Trees

We’ve already outlined how to replant a Christmas tree, now let’s think about why you’d want to do it. It turns out there are a lot of benefits to having a live Christmas tree!

Build Traditions

Everyone who loves Christmas loves the process of going to select a Christmas tree. It’s one of those traditions that people remember for the whole of their lives! When you have a Christmas tree that you replant, you’ll be taking this tradition one step further. You and your loved ones can see the tree growing outside your home year on year! At some point, the tree will likely become too large to put inside your house, but that doesn’t matter — it’ll still be out there in your yard.

It’s Environmentally Friendly

Replanting your Christmas tree is the most environmentally friendly way to have a tree inside your house. A cut tree isn’t so bad, but there is a carbon footprint since you still buy one every year. Plastic trees are much worse — they’re three times more damaging to the planet than cut trees, and significantly more damaging than live trees.

The Smell is Amazing

Who doesn’t love the smell of Christmas trees? It’s one of the best things about the festive period! While cut trees have a great smell, they can begin to fade. Since the live tree is still full of life, the smell is even better — and of course, it should go without saying that it smells much better than plastic trees.

Conclusion

Is getting a Christmas tree that you can plant the right option for you? We can’t say for sure, since only you’ll know how much effort you’re able to put in! But as we’ve seen above, it’s not the most difficult thing to do and clearly brings a lot of advantages. And while you’ll have to get to grips with the process of replanting the tree, it’s also true that it’s a fun process.

What’s more is that it’ll provide you and your family with a living memorial of the good times. When the following year rolls around, you’ll be able to look outside and see the same tree that brought you so much joy the previous year. They provide a great way to decorate the outside of your house too! You can even buy a small tree that’ll grow throughout the year; if the size is right, you could be using the same tree at Christmas for many years to come.

So perhaps next year, try to do something differently. It’s a process that’s better for the environment and a positive practice that more of us should try. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with buying a cut tree, but if you’re trying to make this Christmas period a little bit more special and want have a new feature for your garden, then give this project a try.