Why this NC evergreen was picked for White House Christmas tree and how to get your own
Another North Carolina evergreen will grace the Blue Room of the White House this Christmas season, the 15th Tar Heel tree to have the honor.
White House staff selected the tree Monday from a field of Fraser firs at Cline Church Nursery in Fleetwood, a community in Ashe County between Boone and West Jefferson.
The tree will be cut in November and sent to Washington, where custom holds it will be presented to First Lady Jill Biden.
How does a tree get chosen for the White House?
The National Christmas Tree Association, based in Colorado, holds a contest every two years in which growers, industry experts and consumers vote to select the producers whose nurseries will provide the trees for the Blue Room of the White House and for the vice president’s official residence.
This year’s and next year’s winners were announced at the National Christmas Tree Association’s meeting in August. The 2024 White House Christmas tree also will be a Fraser fir from North Carolina, that one grown at Cartner Christmas Tree Farm in Newland.
The trade group has presented the official White House Christmas Tree since 1966. To qualify for the national contest, the organization says, growers must first win their state or regional competitions.
What tree did the White House pick?
Ellen Church said Wednesday that during their visit Monday, the White House’s head groundskeeper and head usher chose from several trees that met the criteria. The trees must be at least 18.5 feet tall and broad around the bottom.
“They take down the chandelier and there are wires to hold the tree, so the tree sits in the middle of the room,” Church said. “So it’s decorated all the way around,” meaning it needs to be a full tree since no holes can be hidden by facing them toward a wall.
The tree the staffers chose is about 19 feet tall, Church said, and 12 feet around the bottom. The tree was started from seed in 1999 and transplanted into the field in 2004, she said.
The tree will be cut Nov. 15 and loaded onto a truck for the trip to the White House. The Church family will travel to Washington to present the tree the week of Thanksgiving, Church said.
Can anyone buy from the nurseries whose trees go to Washington?
Yes.
Family-owned Cline Church Nursery, which started in 1977, sells fresh-cut trees from its retail store in Fleetwood starting the day after Thanksgiving. . The shop also offers other kinds of trees, shrubs, perennials, mulch and soil blends.
Cartner Christmas Tree Farm offers a you-choose-we-cut option, which will operate this year on Nov. 19-20, Nov. 24-27 and Dec. 3-4.
What if you can’t travel to the mountains for a Fraser fir?
The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has a searchable map (ncfarmfresh.com/farms.asp) to help you find a choose-and-cut Christmas tree operation. Most begin selling trees the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, the same time temporary retail lots typically open locally for sales.
Fresh-cut North Carolina-grown Christmas trees also will be available at the N.C. State Farmers Market the weekend before Thanksgiving.
North Carolina is the nation’s second-largest producer of Christmas trees, according to the N.C. Christmas Tree Association. More than 99% of the trees are Fraser firs grown by about 1,300 producers on 40,000 acres in the far western counties of the state.
