Enjoying a greener Christmas tree

Our real Christmas trees are sustainably sourced from Scottish plantations

Let's face it, nothing beats the smell of a real Christmas tree in your home. With a B&Q tree, you can be sure you're being kind to the environment too. Our trees are harvested in a sustainable way by a specialist team of growers in Aberdeenshire, with more trees planted than cut down every year.

Did you know?

Once planted, trees take six to ten years to grow. You can tell how old a Christmas tree is approximately by adding two years to the height in foot. For example, a 7ft tree would be around 9 years old!

Here are some of the environmental reasons to go for a real tree from B&Q:

The majority of our Nordmann Fir Christmas trees are sourced from Aberdeen, Scotland – as are our pot grown trees. The rest of our live trees are sourced from Europe.
The plantations we source from adhere to Global GAP, a standard that covers the safe use of chemicals and responsible working conditions. The plantations also provide habitats for nature.
No tree goes to waste. If a tree isn’t quite ready (we call these ‘naughty trees’) it is kept in the plantation another year and nurtured to ensure they look beautiful for next year.
Your tree can be recycled after Christmas. Your local authority will be able to advise you on how to do this, and many will collect from your home. Your tree may end up as mulch or being composted.

An insider tip!

Trees start ageing as soon as they warm up, meaning trees cut at the start of the harvest will look just as fresh as those cut in December if kept outside. Meaning customers should shop early for their pick of the crop!

Christmas fun down at the B&Q tree farm

Our Christmas tree harvest normally begins in mid-November. This year, we invited customer, Harriet Shearsmith, to visit our tree farm in Aberdeenshire with her kids. As part of our #KidsInCharge campaign, it was totally up to the children to choose their favourite Christmas tree to take home. Not only that, they went to a local B&Q store to pick decorations and twinkling lights to decorate their tree with.

The harvest sees a quarter of a million trees harvested in a sustainable way, with more trees planted than are cut down. A slick operation, the harvest requires meticulous planning to ensure the nation’s trees arrive right in time for the festivities.

Stylish alternatives to traditional Christmas trees

There are a lot of options for bringing festive spirit year after year, that don’t involve the traditional cut or artificial trees. Here are some of our suggestions:

Try a pot-grown living tree that you will be able to use from one year to the next. To keep it looking healthy, you’ll need to ensure that it is not kept inside for more than 12 days and try to find a cool spot for it. After Christmas, pot it up into a slightly bigger container and make sure that you keep it well watered over the summer. You could even plant it out in the garden – but bear in mind that firs and spruces can grow tall quite quickly.

Make a chalkboard Christmas tree – it’s a great DIY option where space is tight. A backlit MDF tree is a simple DIY project – and can look very effective. If you buy the MDF from B&Q, you can be sure that it has been responsibly sourced. Even better, use a piece of leftover wood. You could adapt this idea to make a corner tree. Our video guide offers step-by-step instructions.

Donating artificial trees

If you need to replace your artificial tree, try donating the old one to someone else who can make use of it. Try donating it through Streetbank, Freegle or another sharing platform.