The story of Alabama’s favorite homegrown Christmas tree
Christmas trees, mostly Leyland cypress, for sale at Beavers Christmas tree farm.
This story is part of a monthly series called Outdoor Connections, which features stories that explore the biodiversity of Alabama and how we depend on it.
In the 1990s, Carolyn Beavers and her husband were discussing ways to stay busy and make a little extra money after retirement.
“I looked out my kitchen window and I said, ‘We could plant Christmas trees,’” Beavers recalled.
The couple bought about 30 acres of family land near Trafford, north of Birmingham, and opened Beavers Christmas Tree Farm. But Beavers said they “knew nothing” about growing Christmas trees.
Well-known holiday favorites like the Frasier fir and the white spruce don’t thrive in Alabama conditions. Instead, most farmers in the Deep South depend on the Leyland cypress for annual Christmas tree production.
The popularity of the non-native evergreen surprised Beavers.
“When I first saw (the Leyland cypress), I told my husband, ‘Nobody is gonna buy that for a Christmas tree.’ But was I wrong,” Beavers said.
Bushy with a deep green color and a pyramid shape, the Leyland cypress shares many Christmas tree qualities. But it doesn’t have the piney Christmas tree scent, and it has softer, more flexible branches that might not sustain heavier ornaments.
The tree is most commonly used for landscaping, according to Jeremy Pickens, horticulture expert with Auburn University.
“But it made for a good Christmas tree because of its shape and it grows really fast,” Pickens said.
Like many landscape plants, the Leyland cypress isn’t a naturally-occurring species. It was reportedly created by accident, a product of British gardening experiments in the late 1800s.
English planters grew two tree species near one another that wouldn’t normally share the same soil. To the gardeners’ surprise, the trees, a Monterey cypress and an Alaskan cedar, cross bred to create the Leyland cypress.
Because it can’t reproduce on its own, planters continue to grow the tree in nurseries and sell seedlings to farmers like Beavers.
After years of running a farm, Beavers has come to love the Leyland cypress.
“It just grows uniform all around,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where it’s planted.”
This holiday season, Beavers and her husband sold 1,335 trees, mostly Leyland cypress. She said they could sell more, but they limit sales to ensure next year’s supply.
Do you have an idea worth featuring as part of our Outdoor Connections series? Email [email protected].
Ivey releases proposed state budgets
Lawmakers are often running in Montgomery having finished the first week of this year's legislative session. It's a week that saw the announcement of Gov. Kay Ivey's budget proposal, along with the first bills starting to make their way through the legislative process. We talk about that with Todd Stacy, host of Capital Journal on Alabama Public Television.
Canada agrees to cut tariff on Chinese EVs in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products
Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.
What do eggs, Grok and Greenland have in common? They’re all quiz-worthy! Are you?
See if you can get a perfect score for once.
House Republicans are investigating Jan. 6. NPR fact-checked the first hearing
A Republican-led congressional subcommittee is leading a new investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Do their claims add up?
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ is ‘Game of Thrones’ for the haters
There are no dragons, no maps and no internecine family trees in this Game of Thrones prequel about an underdog knight and his would-be squire.
With limited political power, Minnesota Democrats navigate resistance to Trump
From public pleas to lawsuits, Minnesota's Democratic leaders are trying to stop the surge of federal agents on their streets.
