IN OUR FAMILY, choosing a Christmas tree was always too big a decision to be left to any one member.
So off we would all traipse to the Christmas tree farm, mindful of the magnitude of our annual pilgrimage. There were hectares and hectares of trees at the farm - and every one needed to be inspected. The peering, prodding and comparing could take hours before we finally reached a consensus.
Timing was critical. You had to get there early, or else the best ones were gone; but not so early that the dreaded droop would set in before the big day.
Fir farms might be hard to find in Hong Kong, but Pokfulam nursery P+F Garden (50 Shui Choi Tin Village, tel: 2812 0886) has the next best thing when it takes delivery of a container of Seattle Douglas and Noble firs today. Owner Charles Lau Wing-chiu says families spend at least half an hour choosing because 'children are very happy here'.
It's a case of first in, best dressed. On past experience, the 400 trees will be sold out by December 15, a quarter of them to clients who put in orders as early as October.
A Douglas fir standing 1.2 metres to 1.7 metres costs $488, while a Noble of the same size is $590, including a wooden stand and free delivery to Hong Kong Island. There is no delivery to Kowloon or the New Territories.
If you don't mind ordering from a catalogue, there are a number of options for buying trees in Hong Kong. Central-based Anglo-Chinese Florist at 23-25 D'Aguilar Street and 50 Wellington Street (tel: 2845 4212) has been importing Douglas and Noble firs for years, predominantly for an American clientele, but increasingly for Chinese families.
