By Jessica Domel
Field Editor

The holiday season is still a few months away. But Texas Christmas tree growers are already hard at work.

For families like Bob and Marilyn Garber, it’s a full-time job. At Silo Christmas Tree Farm in Temple, they care for Afghan Pines and both Murray and Leyland Cypress trees year-round to ensure they’re perfect for the holidays.

The trees are watered regularly and shaped several times a year to ensure a perfect Christmas tree shape.

“Our trees are pretty little trees,” Garber said. “They’re nicely shaped. They don’t have that wonderful Christmas smell that fir trees have.”

For those families who want a fir tree, Garber brings in three semi-loads of Fraser and Noble Firs from North Carolina and Washington state.

The firs cannot be grown in Texas. To flourish, they have to be grown in the mountains at a higher altitude, in an area that has 1,000 hours below freezing.

To ensure the trees are healthy and ready for Texas families, the firs are frozen when they’re shipped to Texas. They’re kept in water and well-cared for so the tree doesn’t fall apart before Christmas.

“We know how to handle trees,” Garber said. “These are fresh when they’re cut. If you get them in water within a day or two where it can draw the moisture up into the tree, they will last a long time.

The Fraser Fir is the longest lasting of the trees and can survive up to four months if treated properly.

But a Texas-style Christmas is more than the tree.

It’s about the experience and families sharing a special part of their year.

“We hand them a buck saw. They can get down on the ground and cut the trees with their kiddos,” Garber said. “It puts reality into the Christmas experience. It’s the tradition.”

When families work to pick a tree together, cut it down and then carry it home to decorate, it becomes a memory that can last a lifetime.

“The tree isn’t the important thing,” Marilyn Garber said. “It’s the doing.”

There are dozens of Christmas tree growers like Garber around the state working to help families pick the perfect holiday tree.

To find one, visit TexasChristmasTrees.com.