Living Christmas trees: rent one, pot one or plant one

Renting a living Christmas tree works like this: you pick a species and size online, the company delivers it in its pot on the day you choose, you water it through the holidays, and they collect it in January. The tree goes back to the nursery to grow on for next year, and when it gets too big to rent it is planted out. Some companies let you rent the same tree again.

It is still a small, regional business. Most US rental companies are on the West Coast, where a potted fir can sit outdoors all year; in much of the country a tree in a pot would freeze solid in winter, which is why rentals are rare in the Midwest and Northeast.

Christmas tree rental near you

These prices come from news reports of recent seasons; each company sets its prices, areas and booking dates every year, so check its own website for 2026. No farm on PickingHours rents trees at the moment. If you are not near a rental company, the closest thing is to buy a potted tree (below) and plant it yourself.

What renting is like. A rented tree is heavy: the pot, wet soil and roots of a 6 ft tree weigh far more than a cut tree, so take the delivery-and-setup option if it is offered. Keep it in the coolest bright spot you have, away from heaters, water it as the company tells you, and use LED lights that stay cool. Expect a charge if the tree comes back dead.

These farms on PickingHours sell living trees alongside their cut ones. Supplies are small, so ring ahead. Tap a farm’s name for its card.

Potted Christmas trees

Christmas trees with a root ball (balled and burlapped)

Other living trees to plant

Which kind of tree suits your yard? Our guide to the types of Christmas trees shows where each grows: a Fraser fir wants cool mountain air, while the South plants Virginia pine and Leyland cypress.

Buying a live tree at Home Depot, Lowe’s or Costco

The big stores sell live potted trees in season too, often small ones in decorative pots, plus Norfolk Island pines. They are cheap and easy to pick up, but check what species it is and whether it is hardy where you live before you plan to plant it.

Only if it still has its roots. A potted or balled-and-burlapped tree can go in the ground after Christmas. A cut tree cannot: once it is off the stump it will not grow roots again, however long it stands in water. (For what to do with a cut tree afterwards, see Christmas tree disposal.)

A living tree is dormant when you buy it. The whole job is to keep it dormant: warm rooms wake it up, and a tree that starts to grow indoors is badly hurt by the cold when it goes back out.

Before you buy

• Choose the spot and dig the hole now, before the ground freezes. Make it about as deep as the root ball and two to three times as wide. Keep the soil you dug out somewhere it won’t freeze, fill the hole with straw or leaves, and cover it so nobody steps in.
• Pick a tree that grows where you live. A Fraser fir that loves the North Carolina mountains may struggle in a hot lowland yard; a Leyland cypress won’t take a northern winter. Ask the farm.
• Think about the weight. A balled tree is far heavier than a cut tree of the same height, and a potted one is usually lighter than a balled one. Have help, and a hand truck.

Bringing it indoors

1. Let it get used to the change. Put it in a garage, porch or unheated room for a day or two before it comes into the house.
2. Stand it in a tub. Set the pot or root ball in a large plastic tub or deep saucer to protect the floor.
3. Keep it cool. Choose the coolest room you have, out of direct sun and away from heaters and fireplaces. Use LED lights, which stay cool.
4. Keep the roots damp, not soaked. Check the soil every day and water when it feels dry an inch down. Never let a root ball dry out.
5. Keep it short. Extension services give seven to ten days indoors as the most; some say three to five. Many families bring it in on Christmas Eve.

Planting it after Christmas

1. Move it back to the garage or unheated room for several days so it can harden off before it meets the cold.
2. Plant it at the same depth it grew; don’t bury the trunk.
3. On a balled tree, cut away the twine and fold back or remove the burlap from the top of the ball. Take off any wire basket if you can, or cut away the top of it.
4. Backfill with the soil you saved, water it in well, and spread mulch over the root area.
5. Water it whenever the ground isn’t frozen through its first winter and summer.

If the ground is frozen solid when Christmas is over, keep the tree in the garage or a sheltered spot with its root ball mulched and damp until you can plant.

The little potted “pines” sold with bows and baubles in December are usually Norfolk Island pines. Despite the name, it is not a pine at all: it comes from an island in the South Pacific and is grown in the US as a houseplant. That makes it the opposite of the trees above. It cannot live outdoors in winter in most of the country (it is hardy only in the warmest zones, such as south Florida and parts of southern California), but it is happy indoors all year, and you can decorate the same one every Christmas.

Keeping one going:

• Light: give it the brightest window you have. In low light the branches go long and droopy. Turn the pot every week or so to keep it growing straight.
• Water and air: water when the top of the soil is dry, and don’t leave it standing in water. It likes humid air, so keep it away from heater vents.
• Decorations: the branches are soft, so use small lights, ribbons and light ornaments, and take them off soon after the holidays.
• Repotting: it dislikes having its roots disturbed; every two or three years is enough.
• Size: indoors it grows slowly, and can reach about six feet over the years.

Other small potted Christmas trees

For a tabletop living tree that can go outside later, look for a dwarf conifer such as a dwarf Alberta spruce, and check that it is hardy where you live. Keep it cool and bright indoors, for no more than a week or two, and treat it like the potted trees above.

• University of Georgia Extension: rooted trees indoors no more than seven to ten days; container trees lighter than balled ones.
• University of Kentucky Extension, Daviess County: a day or two in a garage first, the seven-to-ten-day limit, hardening off afterwards, and the planting hole.
• University of Missouri IPM: three to five days indoors; dig the hole before the ground freezes.
• Washington State University Extension and Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC: choosing and caring for living Christmas trees.
• University of Illinois Extension and Iowa State Extension: Norfolk Island pine care; hardy only in USDA zones 10–11.
• Rental companies: NPR (December 2022), Bob Vila, Sunset and Greer’s OC reports on Rent A Living Christmas Tree, The Living Christmas Co. and The Original Potted Christmas Tree Company.
• Living trees at each farm: the farm’s own website, as shown on its PickingHours card.

Nothing on this page is sponsored, and no farm pays to be listed. Products are named because readers ask about them. Farm details are read from each farm’s card on PickingHours, with the date we checked it.

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