Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree! The time has come to purchase a Christmas tree. Several choices must be made to select the correct tree. After the purchase, Christmas trees should be properly located and maintained for freshness and safety. Finally, after Christmas there are several options to dispose of the tree. Selecting a Tree First, let's look at selecting a tree. You can choose a short- or long-needle evergreen. Common short-needle Christmas trees are Norway spruce, balsam fir, and Fraser fir. Norway spruce has sharp pointed needles that will only hang on the cut tree for 1-12 weeks but are relatively cheap. Balsam and Fraser firs have the advantage of nice smell and rounded needles that will stay on the cut tree for months but are relatively expensive. Occasionally you may find Canadian hemlock, Douglas fir or blue spruce Christmas trees, which are also short needles. Common long-needle Christmas trees are white pine and Scotch pine. White pine has soft needles in bundles of five, with flexible branches. Scotch pine has stiff, sharp needles in bundles of two on stiff branches. Thus, Scotch pine can hold heavier ornaments. On occasion, you may also find red pine for sale.