Trimming Trees Has 2 Meanings in Recession Year : Economy: Orange County shoppers are picking less expensive evergreens for their living rooms this holiday.

The owners of the Christmas Tree Jamboree lot near Upper Newport Bay don’t mean to gloat--well, maybe just a little--when they say their timing could not have been better.

The discount lot, which sells no tree for more than $24.98, opened an Orange County location for the first time this year, just when recession-weary shoppers are looking to trim Christmas expenses without cutting too deeply into tradition.

“We’ve had three Rolls-Royces pull in here, and lots of Mercedeses and BMWs,” said Pete Fust, a tree salesman and sometime folk musician. “They’re attracted by our prices. We’re offering people a $25 Christmas.”

All around the county, tree lot owners are reporting that the recession Grinch has not exactly stolen Christmas, but he has shrunk it a bit. Christmas revelers are not giving up their trees altogether, but they are spending less for them. That means discount tree lots are doing booming business, but more expensive lots--which counted in the past on service, quality and tradition to draw crowds--are eking by.

Smaller trees--less than 5 feet tall--are suddenly popular, as are Douglas firs, which can cost $20 less than a noble fir of the same size. Owners of lots with more expensive trees are telling their salespeople to come down a little on price when talking with customers.

Perhaps those hardest hit are the owners of cut-your-own tree farms. These farms, which grow trees all year, usually charge more because they offer both a fresh tree and a holiday outing for families, who often come armed with camcorders. But tree-buying decisions are turning on price this year.

“People are going for the $15 trees at Lucky,” said Mark Winn, owner of the Olde Tyme Christmas Tree Farm in Orange. He said sales are down 15% from last year, which was not a great year, either. He sold 900 trees last Christmas, and 1,200 the year before.

“Last year, the problem was the war and the beginning of the recession, but let’s face it, it’s gotten worse this year,” he said. “People are afraid they’re not going to have a job.”

Winn said he’ll lift his own spirits this year by donating uncut trees to charity. He normally sells his Monterey pines for $5 to $6 a foot.

A live-tree lot next to Interstate 5 in San Juan Capistrano closed early this season and last week opened only infrequently, at the request of customers. On its trees hung forlorn price tags, marked down for sale.

“Sales were slowing down, so it didn’t pay us to stay here and work,” said Bill Bathgate, who handles the sales operation as a partner in the San Juan Capistrano family tree business. One tall, long-needle pine was marked down from $50 to $33.

Luckily, Bathgate said, the trees will keep and grow until next year. The tree business is a hobby for the retired orange grower. “I’m glad I don’t have to make my living this way,” he said.

Discount tree lots are finding the recession a bonanza, however. Christmas Tree Jamboree can offer lower prices because the family of one of the partners, Ken Orsow, owns tree-growing acreage in Oregon. The Orsow family, who sold trees in Marin County for 40 years, ventured south to Orange County this year for the first time because they thought that there would be a market for inexpensive trees.

As he was paying for his 6-foot Douglas fir, a customer of Christmas Tree Jamboree said he had seen a comparable trees selling for $65 to $75 at a Huntington Beach lot.

“The other lots in this area are high-dollar lots,” Christmas Tree Jamboree partner Tim Wiedenkeller said. “For our first year, we’ve done a little better than we expected.”

Home Depot in Costa Mesa also reported heavy tree sales. Its trees are stacked--no-frills style--against overturned wooden crates in the parking lot.

“The last two weekends, with six of us out here, as fast as we could write (price) tickets out, people were buying,” said salesman Mark Huckenpahler, who works in the garden department. The popular noble firs, which have widely spaced branches that hold many ornaments, are $22 for 5- to 7-foot specimens at Home Depot. In other lots, they are priced at $50 or more.

To some people, the noble fir is so much more Christmasy than other trees that they are hard pressed to substitute. The other most common Christmas tree, the Douglas fir, has denser branches, and noble lovers complain that there is not enough room for garlands, lights and tinsel.

“People have gone to a little bit smaller tree just to get their nobles,” said Deanne Jensen, a saleswoman for Santa’s Tree Land in Costa Mesa.

Karen Heep of Santa Ana, who was shopping for a tree at Home Depot last week, said she was hunting less expensive trees this year. She had stopped by the lot to make sure the trees were fresh before bringing her 14-year-old daughter back to pick one out for their living room.

“People might choose a smaller tree or one that’s less expensive, but I wouldn’t think people would give up a tree for Christmas,” said Heep, who was wearing green wreath earrings. “After this year, I need a tree.”

What Do You Know About Christmas Trees?

1. The first recorded Christmas tree retail lot in the United States was set up in 1851 in which city?

A. Boston

B. New York

C. Philadelphia

2. In 1901, W.V. McGalliard planted the first Christmas tree farm just outside which city?

A. Trenton, N.J.

B. Baltimore, Md.

C. Hartford, Conn. Which President owned a Christmas tree farm?

A. Franklin D. Roosevelt

B. Herbert Hoover

C. Dwight D. Eisenhower 4. Which President set up the first Christmas tree in the White House?

A. Abraham Lincoln

B. Ulysses S. Grant

C. Franklin Pierce 5. Which President established the national Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the White House lawn?

A. Warren G. Harding

B. Calvin Coolidge

C. Woodrow Wilson

6. How many Christmas trees are expected to be sold in the United States in 1991?

A. 36 million B. 29 million C. 47 million

7. How many Christmas tree farms are in the United States?

A. 8,500 B. 15,000 C. 6,700

8. The first Christmas tree lot in history was noted in Alsace province, then part of Germany but now in France, in what year?

A. 1497 B. 1601 C. 1531

9. An acre of Christmas trees:

A. Produces enough oxygen to supply the needs of 18 people for one year.

B. Scrubs clean the air polluted by eight automobiles operated for 12 hours.

C. Both of the above.

10. In order to maintain the freshness of a Christmas tree, it is necessary to:

A. Slice off about half an inch of the tree trunk before placing it in water.

B. Put the tree in a container that holds at least one gallon of water, replenishing when needed.

C. Bring the tree into a partially heated area (basement or porch) the night before decorating.

D. All of the above.

Christmas Tree Quiz Answers

1. B. The first recorded lot in the United States was set up by a Pennsylvanian named Mark Carr, who hauled two ox sleds loaded with trees from his land in the Catskills to the sidewalks of New York.

2. A.

3. A. In the 1930s, President Roosevelt grew Christmas trees on his estate in Hyde Park, N.Y.

4. C.

5. B. In 1923.

6. A.

7. B.

8. C. Christmas trees were sold in the Strasbourg marketplace and taken into homes where they were set up undecorated for the holidays.

9. C. In addition, a field of Christmas trees, while growing one pound of wood, will remove 1 1/2 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release one pound of oxygen. A swath of Christmas trees 100 feet wide can absorb about six to eight decibels of sound intensity. A greenbelt of Christmas trees 300 yards in width will provide the cooling and air-conditioning effects of an increase in altitude of one mile.

10. D.

Sources: California Christmas Tree Growers and the National Christmas Tree Assn. Inc.) Reprinted with permission from Produce News