They're New. They're Different. They're Xmas Trees

By Shannon Mullen on Friday, December 10, 2004.

listen:

There's a new product on the market in New Hampshire this holiday season.

It looks different. It smells different. It has international flair- and it's hard to come by...

It's a Christmas tree.

...and as New Hampshire Public Radio correspondent Shannon Mullen reports, a farmer in Sanbornton has found a niche in this once-a-year market.

THE WORDS ?EXOTIC? AND ?CHRISTMAS TREE? ARE NOT OFTEN IN THE SAME SENTENCE?

UNLESS YOU'RE EXOTIC CHRISTMAS TREE FARMER BOB GIRARDIN...

GIRARDIN GROWS CONIFERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, JUST UP THE ROAD FROM LAKE WINNISQUAM.

24:51 I have fun out here, this is just with my trees, straight ahead is Korean fir? see the flash of white? see it? Ever seen anything so beautiful in your life? That?s from Korea? over here Vetch fir from Japan, look at that foliage?

GIRARDIN GROWS 13-THOUSAND TREES ON HIS ?WILLOW POND FARM? IN SANBORNTON.

WITH 68 DIFFERENT SPECIES, HE HAS ONE OF THE COUNTRY?S LARGEST COLLECTIONS OF EXOTIC CONIFERS.

BECAUSE ALL OF THE 400 CHRISTMAS TREES READY TO SELL THIS YEAR ARE ALREADY SOLD, HE KNOWS HE'S ONTO SOMETHING...

17:35 I have a niche market? I have something nobody else has. First of all, a lot of people came to this farm because they got a great experience. I mean, you sell an experience, you don?t sell a tree.... you can get a tree at WalMart or anywhere else.

WHEN HE'S NOT RAISING AND SELLING HIS TREES, HE'S PROMOTING THEM.

GIRARDIN WRITES ABOUT EXOTIC CONIFERS FOR INDUSTRY PUBLICATIONS...

AND HE WORKS WITH AGRICULTURAL RESEARCHERS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

HE?S BEEN CALLED A VISIONARY.

BUT HE PREFERS THE TERM ?PIONEER?.

30:25 That?s Serbian Spruce from Serbia? see the blue on the underside, green on the top, this is what people in Bosnia and Serbia have in their house at Christmastime.
SOME TREES HAVE LONG AND GLOSSY NEEDLES.

SOME LOOK DUSTED WHITE, WHILE OTHERS ARE STRIPED ON THE UNDERSIDE.

AND THEN THERE?S THE SCENT.

IT?S CLASSIC CHRISTMAS TREE? BUT EVEN STRONGER.

AND ONE SPECIES EVEN SMELLS OF CITRUS.

THE TREES RANGE FROM $32 TO 65 DOLLARS...

THAT'S ONLY SLIGHTLY MORE THAN YOUR AVERAGE TREE AT THE CORNER STAND? BUT GIRARDIN SAYS HIS CUSTOMERS DON?T MIND PAYING MORE...

20:29 It?s not only b/c there?s something different and they?re going to be a yuppie-type mentality, it?s because they?re so beautiful that they are better than anything else they had before. So it?s not only b/c it?s something new, it?s a better product.

DOWN THE ROAD? GIRARDIN?S COMPETITION AGREES:

(T5 DAVE 6:05) If you could put 10 different trees side by side, you?d pick his exotics every time, they?re outstanding. The guy really knows his stuff.

THAT?S DAVE ROTINNELLI.

HE RUNS APPLE TREE NURSERY? NOT TWO MILES FROM GIRARDIN?S FARM?

HE SELLS ABOUT 950 OF THE OLD FASHIONED CHRISTMAS TREES EACH YEAR.

BUT HE AGREES SOME PEOPLE GO OVER THE TOP FOR CHRISTMAS.

(T5 Dave 5:17) I?ve got one woman who comes in, her tree has to be exactly 12 ft tall, 7 feet wide, has to be a Fralsam, but that?s big business. She?s nuts about Christmas, it?s more to her than just put the tree up, put a few presents under it, and take it down before she gets any needles on the floor. She?s excited about it, so these people are out there.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ISSUE OF INVASIVE SPECIES?

WILL THE JAPANESE VETCH FIR CROSS POLLENATE WITH THE SERBIAN SPRUCE TO CREATE A?.ER?JAPANERBIAN SPRETCH THAT COULD SPELL THE END OF THE BALSAM?

NOT A PROBLEM SAY PLANT BIOLOGISTS.

CHRISTMAS TREES ARE USUALLY HARVESTED BEFORE THEY REACH MATURITY AND REPRODUCE.

AND BECAUSE GIRARDIN GROWS HIS TREES FROM SEED, THE DANGER OF INTRODUCING PESTS IS LOW.

SO ARE THESE EXOTICS THE NEXT BIG THING.??

ONE COUPLE SHOPPING FOR A SCOTCH PINE DOWN THE ROAD AT TILTON NURSERY, SAYS NO.

T5 2:08 (Lynn) I don?t think it?ll catch on around here, maybe in NYC, (laughs) but I don?t think in rural NH that you?ll see a lot of exotic trees for sale unless people are coming from out of state.

GIRARDIN KNOWS WHAT HE?S UP AGAINST... TRYING TO SELL FANCY TREES IN AN AREA WHERE CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT THE CLASSIC.

15:37, NH here is a little? actually New England not only NH, is a little slow to come around to change? they?re more let?s say cautious in coming around? though they are starting? but other parts of the country have taken off with this, jumped way ahead.

BUT BEFORE YOU GO OUT TO BE A PART OF THIS NEW WAVE ?THERE?S A CATCH?

YOU CAN'T BUY ONE.

GIRARDIN SELLS HIS TREES BY INVITATION ONLY.

FOR N-H-P-R NEWS, I?M SM.