DID YOU KNOW?

DID YOU KNOW?

Fun tree facts

If you have a pile of needles under the Christmas tree, making holiday tear-down a complete nightmare, chances are, you have a spruce. Fir and pine make better choices for indoor trees.

Holly, used traditionally in holiday d cor, is also a bad idea for indoor decorating, unless in a vase or other container with a water source. The plant, which has waxy leaves and red berries, dries out quickly indoors.

The word “evergreen” is a collective term used to describe trees or shrubs that have leaves all year long, including fir, pine and spruce. New leaves or needles grow as old ones are shed.

People most often confuse spruce and fir trees. How to tell the difference? A fir has flat, soft needles and spruce needles are squarellike and pinchy.

Spruce trees lose their needles every four to five years. Pine trees shed their needles about every three years.

People tend to use the term “pine cones” to refer to all cones that grow on trees. Only pine trees have pine cones. Spruce trees, for instance, have spruce cones.

One piece of a cone is called a scale. A conifer is another name for a tree with cones.

Source: Mill Creek Metroparks