A good Christmas tree

I would like to plant an attractive tree in my front garden that will look nice all year round, not grow more that say 8ft and that I can put fairy lights on at Christmas so that I can have an outdoor Christmas tree - evergreen of course but doesn't need to be a traditional Christmas tree - any bright ideas?

 

A Ceanothus or a Camillia will give you colour in the flowering season and, by selecting the right variety, will give you a structure to mount your lights on. Both are Evergreen.
It will take several years to achieve the 8' though.

 

There are some blue conifers that grow slow. Sorry don't know their names but if I only had one to chose that would be it.

 

You could look at the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo); it does ultimately grow much larger than 8ft but it is slow, worth considering though because it has flowers and fruit on the plant at the same time, its evergreen and has attractive flaking bark. Often shrubby but can easily be grown as a classic lollipop shaped tree :thumb:

enkianthus - Google Search

If your soil is acidic you could also consider Enkianthus;

enkianthus - Google Search

As mentioned there are the Blue Spruces, again ultimately grow larger than 8ft but they very slow;

enkianthus - Google Search

Oh don't worry about all the links saying the same they are for each different plant mentioned, don't know why it does that sometimes?? :D

 

Picea Pungens Hoopsii

grows a bit taller than 8 foot, but when it reaches the height that you are happy with, trim/clip the top central stem

 

Yep, thats the type Dim. Oh how beautiful. And it would look just wonderful with white snow on it. OK, now can I find room for one here. hummm.

Here is the other name, just finally came to me, it is also a darling.
Picea pungens glauca 'Fat Albert'

 

Thanks

Thanks you all so much for your replies - I had received no email notifications so figured that no one had replied - I just checked and was very pleased to see your suggestions. I guess that I have my settings wrong somewhere. The Hoopsii looks lovely - I'll have to be patient though as the only sensibly priced ones I can find on the internet are just 2 feet tall.
I also like the ceanothus idea - the last faux tree that I had there was a cotoneaster (so along similar lines) and that worked well until it died.

 

For a traditional Christmas Tree I would grow this beauty.


RHS Plant Selector Abies koreana 'Silberlocke' AGM / RHS Gardening