A Scrub Pine for Christmas

As I mentioned earlier this week, I like to bring a little vacation home with me. Though I was tempted to dig a scrub pine sapling on our October vacation in Florida, I refrained from breaking any laws. That didn’t mean that my scrub pine lust ended. Instead, I hopped online and tracked down a nursery that would ship a scrub pine to me.

In my Google searches, I learned that a scrub pine is also called a Virginia pine or New Jersey pine. In the south, they go by the informal name scrub pine, and the closer they are to the ocean, the more twisted and interesting they look. Here’s a picture of scrub pines by St. Joseph Bay in Florida.

I love the lack of lower branches and gnarly bend of the scrub pines.

Each year since we moved into our current (and final) home, we have purchased a living Christmas tree to display on our unheated sun porch and then plant in our yard as a reminder of that Christmas.

Christmas 2011

The first year we had a Baby Blue Eyes Spruce. This little tree is destined to remain small all our lives, but I guess that will make us feel young, right?

This Baby Blue Eyes Spruce marks our first year in our home.

Christmas 2012

The second year we failed to find a decent tree, so we used an uprooted cedar sapling that didn’t survive. I hate it that we have that gap, but we had a lot going on at work that year, and we were unable to dedicate time to find a small but affordable living tree.

Christmas 2013

The third year we got a twisted long-needle White Pine at a local nursery. We found the tree among the regular trees, not the living Christmas trees, and it had a steep discount of 50% off. The tree is doing great in our side yard, and I love its imperfect structure.

Our discount White Pine reminds us of 2013.

Christmas 2014

The fourth year we located a super small Norway Spruce. This tree looked like it belonged in a mouse’s house, but it will be big before we know it.

Our small Norway Spruce commemorates Christmas 2014.

Christmas 2015

This year I tracked down a Virginia Pine through a company called TN Tree Nursery in Altamont, Tennessee. It’s a wholesale nursery, but it delivers to residential customers as well. I was able to get a 4 to 5 foot scrub pine and get a second one free. The prices amazed me. So rather than wander from nursery to nursery hoping to find something that will work, I ordered my trees in early November, and they arrived the week before Thanksgiving.

My trees for 2015 have a Dr. Seuss flair.

The company digs the trees the day before delivery, packs the bare roots in a moisture gel with peat moss, and ships them in a box to your door. My trees arrived safely, and I promptly took them out of the box. I soaked them for two hours in a bucket of water as recommended in the instructions. I planted one of them in my front field, and I planted the other one, the taller one, in a container on my front walkway. I planned to move the container tree indoors the week prior to Christmas where it could sparkle with lights and ornaments, but I have changed my mind.

The tree on the left suffered from freeze damage while planted in a container. We planted the tree on the right the day after arrival, and it is doing very well.

Shortly after I planted my container tree and watered it each day for five days as recommended, we had a couple of days of heavy rain and then a cold snap. I did not notice that the rain compacted the soil in the container to the point where it exposed the upper roots. The needles turned brown, and only a few needles on the ends of the branches remained green with new growth. I think the tree suffered from freeze shock. I waited a few weeks to see if the tree would green up, and it did, but it’s not enough to be my living indoor tree for a week. I’ll figure out something else to do with that spot on my sun porch. Yesterday, I planted the container tree in the front yard where it can grow strong and prosper. I’ll be keeping an eye on both trees for the next several months.

I’m filled with hope for our freeze damaged tree. The ends of the branches feature new growth.

So far, I’m very pleased with these trees from TN Tree Nursery. I know the conventional wisdom is that trees should travel north to south for best results, but Tennessee isn’t very far from Kentucky, so I’m optimistic these trees will do well. If all does go well, I’ll be buying more trees in the spring.