Spruce is considered a traditional New Year tree, but pine is more popular: this evergreen beauty is cheaper, but usually looks thicker and more elegant thanks to its long needles. You need to carefully choose a pine tree for a holiday so that it stands green for a long time, with strong fresh needles, and exudes a pleasant coniferous smell.
Christmas pine
A live pine tree is not only an excellent New Year's decoration for an apartment or house, but also a wonderful way to make the holiday more memorable, magical and harmonious. The artificial tree has many advantages, but does not have the ability to create a New Year's atmosphere.
Pine is often preferred to be eaten for several reasons: firstly, it is cheaper, secondly, long needles make its crown thicker and more spreading, and thirdly, a freshly cut pine tree costs a week longer than spruce. If you buy a fresh tree, it will last three to four weeks before it begins to shed yellowed needles.
A good New Year's pine should have a straight and rather thick trunk, which is well hidden behind dense branches: the more often they grow from the trunk, the better. The needles can have different shades: from bright green to bluish-blue, the fresher and richer the color, the better. A beautiful New Year's tree should have an even, neat crown without noticeable asymmetry and a pronounced top.
It is desirable that the pine looks beautiful from all sides, but if you are going to put it in a corner in the apartment, then this is not necessary: the imperfections of the tree can be hidden by turning it the right side.
How to choose fresh pine?
When choosing a pine, it is easier to navigate by its appearance: find a suitable size, green, straight, even and dense pine. But if you do not know some secrets, you can buy a beautiful, but very short-lived tree, which in a week will lose its fresh and elegant look.
These recommendations are especially important for those who buy New Year's pine a week or more before the holiday.
To make sure that the tree was recently cut, look at its cut: it should be uniform in color, and if a bright dark strip is visible along the edge, this means that the pine was cut down a long time ago, and it may soon crumble. After making sure of a good cut, take the tree by the trunk and knock it several times on the ground: if many needles have fallen, this is an old pine tree.
Feel the needles: they should be oily, soft, not very prickly, when bent, fresh needles do not break, but flexibly bend, emitting a rich coniferous aroma. Try to bend the branches as well, they shouldn't break with a bang either. Examine the tree trunk: it should be flat, free of growths, mold and mildew, with small droplets of resin.
When choosing, take into account the size of your apartment or house: pines, unlike spruces, are very spreading and require a lot of space. As a rule, the trees look smaller outdoors than indoors, so when buying it is difficult to imagine how the New Year's beauty will look in the room. Think in advance where to put the pine, and decide on the height and width of the tree.
