Three years ago, the Battersea Park store of Christmas tree specialists, Pines and Needles made national headlines when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted choosing a tree on their first public outing together.
The ‘Royal ripple’ saw tree sales increase by 25%, but brothers and founders, Sam and Josh Lyle, who began farming trees on their family’s Scottish estate when they were in their teens are no strangers to celebrity customers – Elton John and Madonna are among those who have had their trees delivered by the cheerful kilt-wearing crew.
“We’re not expecting Harry and Meghan back, but there’s plenty of festive lights and fun to make coming here to choose your tree a lovely family experience,” says Sam.
Get a tree:
20th Nov - 24th Dec
Location: Wimbledon Park, SW19 6PE
Opening hours: Weekdays: Mon - Thurs: 8am - 9pm, Fri: 8am - 6pm, Weekends: 8am - 6pm
Sam’s top tips on looking after your tree
1. Choose well
Measure the space you have available. The general rule is that the girth is slightly less than half the height, so a 6ft tree will be 2.9ft at its widest. Run your hands through the branches to see if you get any needles dropping off. Nordmann Firs are the most popular because they hold on to most of their needles and look fresh and green for a good three weeks.
2. Prepare the trunk
Trees are like cut flowers – they need lots of water. We saw off the bottom 3cm of the trunk to open up the pores in the bark so the tree is able to drink water through these pores via capillary action.
3. Keep it away from heat sources
Heat dries out your Christmas tree faster, so the further away from potentially radiators and fireplaces the fresher your tree will remain
4. Water your tree
Place your fresh tree in plain water - not soil or sand which block the pores in the bark. This is best achieved by using a specially designed Christmas tree stand (much easier than a bucket of bricks or stones!) All stands are not created equal, and we strongly recommend the Cinco stands which can be used on trees up to 12ft tall.
5. Keep on watering it!
Your tree may drink 1-2 litres of water per day, depending on its size and your central heating settings. This is very important as once the water level drops below the tree’s trunk, sap will re-seal the bark within a few hours, preventing the tree from drinking any further water even if you re-fill the stand.
