There are plenty of UK-grown Christmas trees to meet demand this winter, the British Christmas Tree Growers' Association has said in response to scare stories about a possible shortage in the consumer press recently.
"There is not a county in England, Wales or Scotland without a Christmas tree grower," said Roger Hay of the association. "There is not a problem this year in terms of a shortage in numbers or in quality."
Consumer press reports had suggested that the warm temperatures and lack of rainfall this summer that continued into the autumn might mean a shortage of trees or a preponderance of small sizes. But these fears are unfounded. "We have had sufficient decent weather recently with some good rainfall and trees are in good condition," said Hay. "In fact, some growers have larger quantities this year of slightly bigger trees as we are seeing a demand from the public for bigger trees and there have been more requests for 7-8' trees rather than the standard 6-7' size."
Hay also reports that there are slightly fewer trees from continental Europe likely to be imported this season so that Christmas trees in the UK this Yuletide will mostly be UK-grown.
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