Community Spotlight

Longacres’ Nursery Center

Discover much more than Christmas trees

Story and photos by Medora Hebert

Longacres’ Nursery Center is a family-owned business that has been selling Christmas trees for 34 years, buying from growers in northern New Hampshire and Vermont and hauling them back to Lebanon. Buying regionally grown trees is good for the growers in the local economy, and general manager Norm Longacre makes it a point that Christmas trees are an agricultural crop and a renewable resource. When he and his brothers Jim and Joe started out, they sold mostly balsam fir and a few Fraser fir. Now it is 50/50.

“Nowadays, a lot of folks want a Christmas tree at Thanksgiving so they can celebrate two holidays at once,” explains Norm. “It helps when the children are grown and have children and want to spend time with both sets of grandparents.” A well-fertilized, plantation-grown Fraser will stay green and hold its needles well after Christmas. The secret is that many of Norm’s growers are in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, where things get cold and frosty in October. A tree that is harvested after a hard frost will hold its needles much longer.

Beyond the Tree

Longacres’ Nursery Center also sells fresh greens, including garland and wreaths made in the Northeast Kingdom, where there is a cottage industry of wreath making. For those who wish to do it themselves, Longacres’ has all the wreath-making supplies you’ll need: raw brush, wire wreath rings, decorations, ribbons and, for texture, a selection of west-coast greens, including western cedar, American holly, Noble fir, Douglas fir, and boxwood. Of course, there is always a lavish selection of beautiful wreaths created by the Longacres’ Nursery Center staff. Robin Reed makes swags of greens and oversees the retail wreath department. The talented wreath decorators include Phil Barton, a retired florist; Lillian Weed, a retired nurse who has been decorating wreaths for 10-plus years; and Edith Tewksbury, who makes the kissing balls on site. The kissing balls are made of Fraser, balsam, and boxwood and hold up exceptionally well. They, too, can be custom decorated and themed.

Cyclamens and poinsettias are available in a variety of both traditional and unusual colors. And don’t forget the stocking stuffers of high-end pruning tools, seed packets, birdfeeders and baths, garden benches, birdseed, planters, herb topiaries, and bonsai trees. These are all the things that make a garden and nature lovers glad their gift came from Longacres’ Nursery Center.