Spruce up at home with fine fir
It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas. Unless, of course, you have a fake tree, then it probably doesn’t smell like anything.
For one woman it smells Christmas all year round.
A Danish woman living in Marlborough gets to rock around a Christmas tree, or 2000 of them if she wants, every day of the year.
Why? Because she runs a Christmas tree farm.
Three different types of Christmas tree line Susanne Jensen’s property in the Waihopai Valley, about 35 kilometres like west of Blenheim, and have done so for the past eight years.
When Jensen and her partner moved to Marlborough, from Denmark, about 15 years ago they thought the region lacked Christmas trees, so they decided to create their own ‘Christmas tree farm park’ and haven’t looked back.
‘‘I think [we got into it] because we have the trees in Denmark, nobody was really doing it here,’’ she said.
The most popular choice of tree among Kiwis was the pine tree, Jensen said.
Pine trees are sought after because of their smell, she said.
‘‘As a kid you remember the smell of Christmas and for you the smell of Christmas is pine,’’ Jensen said.
Europeans living in Marlborough were more inclined to buy either the Norwegian spruce or the douglas fir, Jensen said.
‘‘For me, the Norwegian spruce would be the proper tree.’’
The trees were trimmed to perfection, which Jensen said was the secret to having lush looking trees.
It took pine trees five years to be at their prime and ready to sell to the public.
A pine tree can be bought for $35, a douglas fir for $40, while the Norwegian spruce is the most expensive at $45, as they struggle to grow in Marlborough’s climate.