The tree-trunk forms one half of a tree and the roots the other half. Botanists tell us that there is just as much of a tree spread under the ground as there is standing above the ground.

Its four great limbs, each as big as a sizable tree, elbow outward from the trunk around halfway up ... Sillett told me. “Half the year, they’re not growing aboveground.

Marsha Gray, executive director at the Real Christmas Tree Board, suggests cutting about half an inch off the trunk when you bring your tree home. "Christmas trees are conifers, meaning they ...