DYK: The most common Christmas tree is the Fraser Fir — 94% are Fraser firs, as a matter of fact. Chances are, if you have a Christmas tree in your home this year, it’s more than likely grown right here in our state. And while you may have already known that, we bet we’ve got a few fun facts that you can use to spark conversations around your table — or that tree— this holiday.
10 fascinating facts about the Fraser fir
Props to you if you can say that tongue twister five times fast.
🎄After Oregon, the Tar Heel State is the second largest producer of Christmas trees in the country — roughly 50 million Fraser firs grow on tree farms in our state, spanning ~39,000 acres.
🎄26% of all real Christmas trees in the country come from NC.
🎄Christmas tree sales net some serious cash for the state — including over $86 million in 2017.
🎄Its popularity extends beyond us common folk — the Fraser fir has been chosen as the official Christmas Tree of the White House 13 times, including last year’s 19-foot, 800-pound tree from Mountain Top Fraser Fir Farm in Avery County.
🎄Fraser Firs grow up to 55 feet in the wild and are easily identifiable by their sturdy branches, exceptionally fragrant, inch-long needles + pyramidal shape.
🎄Just like kids, these trees don’t grow up overnight — it can take up to 15 years for a Fraser Fir to reach a height of six to seven feet on a tree farm.
🎄The Fraser fir is the only fir tree indigenous to the Great Smoky Mountains, and it’s found only in Southern Appalachia at elevations above 3,900 feet.
🎄They were named after Scottish botanist John Fraser in the late 1700s.
🎄Fraser firs provide crucial habitat for rare animals + plants, including the spruce-fir moss spider, the northern flying squirrel, Weller’s salamander, rock gnome lichen, and mountain ash.
🎄The Fraser fir is popular across the country and world with trees being shipped to Bermuda, the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Canada, Japan + more each year.
