What Is The Best Type Of Christmas Tree For Not Dropping Its Needles?

Every year there seems to be a wider variety of Christmas tree species to choose from, some claiming no needle drop, yet every year we"re still left with a carpet studded with rather painful needles. To clear up the best species of Christmas tree for reduced needle drop this guide will take you through your choices.

Blue Spruce; With a fantastic cent and a decent colour and shape the blue spruce is a popular choice, however it is quite a sinner when it comes to dropping needles. Not only this, the needles are very sharp making it a pain to decorate and even more of a pain when the needles get stuck in your foot!

Fraser Fir; The Fraser fir is a better candidate for needle drop and is fantastic for shape and colour. However it is quite lacking in scent and can be a little pricier. Overall not a bad all-rounder but what"s a Christmas tree without that Christmassy smell.

Lodgepole Pine; A fantastic choice for shape, colour and ease of decoration, not bad at all on the needle drop either, however the Lodgepole pine is still quite difficult to get hold of in the UK and as with the Fraser Fir it doesn"t rate at all highly on scent.

Noble Fir; The Noble Fir is a fantastic all rounder in all areas other than once again, the scent. The Noble Fir has a fantastic shape and beautiful silver foliage, it drops few needles and generally puts on a stunning display, it can however be very pricey at around 50% more than your average spruce.

Norway Spruce; The all time favourite British Christmas tree with fantastic scent, beautiful shape and colour and very easy to decorate, not however great on the needle drop but still a firm favourite in British households.
So from the list above we can see that we have a great choice and some species that are better than others when it comes to holding their needles. Unfortunately there is not one option that ticks all of the boxes; you seem to have to sacrifice scent for needle retention and vice versa. Another idea is to hire a live Christmas tree over the Christmas season rather to buy a Christmas tree that has been cut. As hired Christmas trees are pot grown and stay alive and fresh throughout the festive season they do not drop needles like cut ones do. In addition to this they are pruned throughout their growing phase resulting in a better shape. Many Christmas tree hire companies offer a delivery and collection service, once collected your tree will be planted out to create woodlands for British wild life to inhabit. Most Christmas tree hire services offer a range of sizes but tend to stick to the traditional Norway Spruce due to its fantastic scent and shape however some are now beginning to favour indigenous trees as these are better for the wildlife that will inhabit them once they are planted out. This way you get a great Christmas tree that has everything you are looking for and allows you to easily do your bit for the environment.