Christmas tree farms in Pennsylvania

Where are the Christmas tree farms in Pennsylvania?

Everywhere, but the south-east is where they cluster, and we now cover three counties there. Lancaster County is the densest — a dozen choose-and-cut farms within half an hour of the city, and the one we list most fully. Chester County, next door to the east, has more choose-and-cut farms than either of the others and publishes the most about its prices: two of the six we list have a 2026 season and a price list up at the same time, and a third gave us its opening date when we wrote to ask. York County, an hour west of Lancaster, has as many farms again but publishes far less — only one of them has posted a 2026 date. Western Pennsylvania around Pittsburgh is the fourth cluster and we do not cover it yet. Pennsylvania is one of the largest Christmas-tree-growing states in the country, and unlike the southern states it grows a wide range of species rather than one.

What kind of Christmas trees grow in Pennsylvania?

Many more than in the south. Across Lancaster County alone you can cut white pine, Douglas fir, concolor fir, Fraser fir, Korean fir, Turkish fir, Canaan fir, blue spruce, Leyland cypress, Norway spruce and Scotch pine — one farm there grows six species by itself, and two more sell every tree on the place for a single flat price whatever the species. Chester County adds Colorado spruce and white spruce to that list, and is where the Canaan fir is most grown. The North Carolina mountains, by contrast, grow Fraser fir and very little else, because that is what the altitude suits. If you have only ever bought a Fraser, Pennsylvania is where you find out what the alternatives smell and feel like.

Do you have to book or tag a tree in Pennsylvania?

In Lancaster, often, and it surprises people. Tagging — walking the field weeks early, tying a tag to the tree you want and coming back to cut it — opens on 1 October at one Lancaster farm and 31 October at another. A third takes choose-and-cut by reservation only, on five days in the whole season. Chester and York counties do not work this way at all — no farm in either offers tagging, and two York farms say so outright. None of the North Carolina farms we list do either. Turning up on the first Saturday in Lancaster expecting the pick of the field is how people end up disappointed.

When do Pennsylvania Christmas tree farms open?

The earliest open on Saturday 21 November 2026, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and most of the rest on Black Friday, 27 November. Four farms open that Saturday: one in Lancaster and all three of the dated farms in Chester, though the third of those gave us its date by email rather than printing it. Closing dates vary much more than opening ones: some finish in the second week of December, Westlake in Chester County runs to 19 December, and one Lancaster farm stays open every day to Christmas Eve. Two Chester farms simply open until the trees are gone and say so.

Is Pennsylvania or North Carolina better for cutting your own tree?

They are different trips. North Carolina means Fraser fir, grown at altitude in the Appalachians, and it is the tree most of the east coast buys. Pennsylvania means choice — six or more species on a single farm, and spruces and pines you will not find on a southern farm at all. Pennsylvania farms are also more likely to want you to tag or book ahead.