![]() I can't imagine needing anything brighter than the lights in my granddaughter's five-year-old eyes. He'll be home with us and with his little girl. I've begun looking forward to our annual trek to Home Depot to "chop down" our newest artificial tree from their pile of boxes. Perhaps he opens up to his kindred spirits, the lonely trees, while he's downstairs pondering their fate. Like most men, he holds everything in so tightly, he clamps down on his lower lip with his front teeth to keep his feelings from popping out. My sweet, well-intentioned hubby, who works 80-hour weeks, has vowed annually to donate the old trees to charity, but his intentions seldom make it upstairs these days, which has a lot to do with our son, our only child, being a Marine. Judging from the six human-body-sized, bulging boxes in our storage room we've amassed an impressive collection of at least six full-sized trees. Sometimes the cause is a combination of entire sections of burned out lights and impossible-to-identify colored tips that are key to the assembly of the prickly little beast that seals its fate. Although the manufacturer swears if one burns out the rest will remain lit, you know doggone well he deserves coal in his stocking. Then he comes back up a couple of hours later, empty-handed, sadly shaking his head, and explaining why we need to buy a new tree. Virtually every year my husband of 38 years goes downstairs to bring up last year's tree. But I don't think they last any longer than real ones. My choice is definitely an artificial tree. Another alternative to that would be piling a mound of mulch around the pot or storing them in the shed that stays cool, but does not get much colder than about 20° F inside. Not the top, but it would kill the roots, and then end up killing the top as a result.īurying the pots in the ground simulates being right in the ground. However, in a pot, the whole rootball could get to 10 below zero if it gets that cold outside. Although the ground freezes, the actual temperature of the dirt never gets much colder than about the 20s a few inches down, even in very cold areas, because of the insulating properties of the soil itself. You DO need to protect the roots in the pot, because in nature, they are insulated by soil, whereas in a pot they would get much colder than they would outside in the ground. Maples not only expect, but I actually need, a cold rest period in winter.
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