Christmas Trees Plentiful
Selection and prices this year for local “choose-and-cut” Christmas trees are good, the California Department of Food and Agriculture reported.
Christmas trees are grown commercially in 52 of California’s 58 counties, including some of the state’s more urban areas, Jack Parnell, director of the department, said last week.
Prices for the uncut trees have remained about the same for the last five years, Parnell said.
“Low prices aren’t the only bonus,” Parnell said. “There are also more tree farms in California now than in the past 20 years, so there is sure to be a tree farm somewhere near you.”
Christmas tree farming in California, which began in the Santa Cruz area in the 1940s, has bloomed into a $30-million-a-year business for the state’s 800 tree farms.
The top-selling “choose-and-cut” tree, and the fastest growing, is the Monterey Pine, which is easily grown anywhere and matures in about five years, Parnell said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
