Simply pick a variety of tree that's right for your climate, take good care of it during the holidays, plant it well and it will grace your garden for decades to come. Gardening by the Yard host Paul James talks about the best varieties for later planting and gives tips on how to take your living tree through the holidays and beyond. The varieties of live trees range from the familiar to the unusual. Before you select a tree, make sure it likes your climate.
Balsam firs are magnificent, for example, but they'll do well only in cold climates.
Also, know the tree's mature size. An adorable five-foot tree could wind up reaching 60 feet high and 30 feet wide. Scotch pine also has a wide following, but so many have been killed by the pine sawyer beetle that many nurseries don't stock it live. As with the other giants mentioned here, one fully mature blue spruce can in time dominate half the yard and be difficult to work into a landscaping scheme. On all spruces, the needles are arranged bottlebrush-style around the stem.