Christmas Pine Trees

Christmas trees in New Zealand are a Radiata Pine which is the same family of trees as we have in our forests which are grown in huge plantation and cut into timber for us to build homes. They are also sold as logs to support the construction industry overseas.

Radiata Pine tree seed were first brought into New Zealand in 1859 from the central coast of California in America and planted on land at Mount Peel Station in the South Island.

As those trees grew fast and got bigger in our good climate men found that the wood was not too hard but was soft enough and easy to cut into timber for uses like buildings, fence posts and battens also toy making.
Since it’s first arrival the seed has now been planted throughout New Zealand and seems to grow in any soil type.

It may be news to some and probably our younger generation, that the lovely Pohutakawa tree we see growing along our New Zealand coastline was widely known as our iconic Christmas tree by early settlers. This came about in 1867 as an Austrian geologist noted that Settlers referred to it as such.
Earlier in 1833 families gathered to hear the Missionary Henry Williams holding a religious service on the beach under a wide spreading Pohutakawa tree with its full bloom of Crimson flowers.

Currently New Zealand has approximately 1.5 million hectares of Pine forest.
There use as Christmas trees grown at specialty farms, is partly because of the beautiful Pine fragrance and the ease with which they can be nurtured, pruned and shaped.

It only takes 2 to 4 years to reach an acceptable height.
In Britain a Pine or Douglas fir tree as they sometimes called, will take 8 to 10 years to reach the same height.
It's also easy to keep your Christmas Pine tree looking good for longer, because of the liquid requirements of this sap softwood tree.