We decided to bring back the Potted Living Christmas Tree (PLCT) post from last year because it’s informative and out of a desperate need for content. This will be year six for our PLCT and unfortunately for my wife, it looks just as Charlie Brown’ish as it did last year.

When it comes to buying a Christmas tree, the decision for most is to choose between artificial or a barely dead tree. If you go artificial, you can get perfection every year and spend the holidays convincing everyone how close your artificial tree looks to an actual one. If you go to the Christmas tree lot and get a recently-departed tree, you can choose from a hundred or so trees and find the right height and fullness. You can even get it flocked on the spot if that’s your preference. Now Jubbling wants to recommend an alternative – the potted “living” Christmas tree.

A potted Christmas tree is exactly what the name suggests – take a trip to your local nursery and pick out a potted tree to use as your Christmas tree. According to our local nursery, Bainbridge Gardens, robust and durable types of living Christmas trees include the Norway Spruce, Korean Fir, Balsam Fir, Frasier Fir and the Colorado Blue Spruce. They may not be as attractive as an artificial or once-living tree but since it is a potted Christmas tree, you can roll it outside to your porch or patio after the holiday and water it until you use it again the next year. It’s Jubbling 101. Ten years ago, I decided to give it a shot and I purchased a potted tree that ended up in my yard after Christmas. Then in 2004, I decided to do it again only this time I put the tree in a pot and put it outside after Christmas. We have nothing on the Charlie Brown Christmas tree but a little Jubbling and my original $65 investment has carried forward for the last 4 Christmases.

Caring for a Potted Christmas Tree – Limiting the amount of time your potted Christmas tree spends in your house is the best way to make sure it survives the holiday. According to Jenni at Bainbridge Gardens, the best way to care for a potted Christmas tree is:

Before the living Christmas tree goes into the house, give it some transitional time in an unheated garage or outbuilding. If it will be indoors for 5-6 days, it should be in a transitional area for a similar length of time. Check the plant daily and water as needed to keep the soil moist but not soggy. We recommend placing the tree in a room that’s between 60 and 65 degrees if possible and definitely not near a heat register.

Our potted Christmas tree will spend 2 weeks in the house but you’re better off following Jenni’s guidelines. Contact your local nursery and see what they have available. A potted Christmas tree may not look perfect but it will more than serve its purpose and that is to hold ornaments, lights and allow you to put presents underneath it.

My kids still pull the “dad’s cheap” card on me but in the end, I think they know it’s Jubbling. And given the option of switching our holiday from celebrating Christmas to Festivus, my kids appreciate the potted Christmas tree a little more. The last thing they want to experience is Festivus and the traditional raising of the aluminum pole.