All photos courtesy of Cline Church Nursery
The founders of Cline Church Nursery, along with their children and grandchildren, arrived in Washington D.C. to present the official White House Christmas tree of 2023. The tree rested in the iconic vintage wagon that was drawn by two Clydesdales with drivers wearing top hats.
“Tears came into my eyes when we walked outside, and I got to see that because it was a surreal, very special and humbling moment," said Amber Scott, co-owner of Cline Church Nursery. “You’ve always seen pictures of it, but to be there in person and know we had a hand in growing that tree was really special.”
Co-owners Alex Church and Amber Scott presented a North Carolina Fraser fir Christmas tree to First Lady Jill Biden, and the official White House Christmas tree is currently displayed in The Blue Room.
According to whitehouse.gov, The Blue Room’s chandelier is removed to accommodate the Christmas tree’s full height. … The stunning tree celebrates cheerful scenes, landscapes and neighborhoods from all across the country, with names of every state, territory, and the District of Columbia, showcased throughout the decor. With bright colors and three-dimensional elements, guests will gaze in wonder as they are taken on a delightful adventure around the tree. A replica of a vintage passenger train, on loan from the Train Collectors Association, magically weaves through the tree’s base.
“Christmas trees are an important tradition for many families at the holidays, and AmericanHort is proud to work with the National Christmas Tree Association to represent their needs with legislators in our Nation’s Capital,” said Matt Mika, vice president of advocacy and government affairs, AmericanHort. “It was a special experience to attend this year’s Christmas Tree Ceremony at the White House with our member Cline Church Nursery and help them celebrate this memorable occasion.”
Cline Church Nursery are members of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association (NCCTA) as well as the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA). The NCTA hosts a contest for Christmas tree growers, and to qualify for the national contest, the grower must first win at the state level.
According to the NCCTA, Over 58 million Fraser firs are grown in North Carolina on 38,000 acres for use as Christmas trees, and the Fraser fir represents over 94% of all the trees grown in North Carolina as Christmas trees.
The contest challenges growers to produce the best tree, and the Grand Champion of the contest supplies the official White House Christmas tree. This year, the NCTA selected Cline Church Nursery as its 2023 Grand Champion grower.
“If we weren’t involved with our local industry associations from the county, state and national levels, we would’ve never had this opportunity,” Alex said. “It’s important to be involved.”
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
The 2023 White House Christmas tree started as a seed that was collected from Roan Mountain. Then the seed was propagated into a 10-inch plug. The plug was planted in seed beds to grow into an 18-inch seedling. Then the bare-root seedling was planted in the ground at Cline Church Nursery in 2004.
Cline Church Nursery has around 600 acres of Fraser firs in production with almost one million trees in the ground, ranging from what they just planted to what they’re getting ready to harvest.
“Everything goes in the ground,” Alex said. “We’re at the mercy of Mather Nature. It’s not feasible to irrigate where we’re at, on the side of the mountain, but we do have a very tolerant commodity. The Fraser fir is heat tolerant and drought tolerant.”
Because of the steep elevation of the mountain, Alex explained that they use high-pressure sprayers to fertilize and for weed control and pest management.
“If we have a really dry season, we’ll take our nozzles off of our high-pressure sprayers, and we’ll [give the trees] a quart of water or a half gallon of water,” Alex said. “That will usually seal up the roots and get them to survive [during that dry season]. … Between being planted and harvested, each tree will be visited at least one hundred times, whether that be shearing, fertilizing, pest management or anything like that.”
Cline Church Nursery maintains a healthy ground cover and doesn’t kill out the vegetation on the ground. Amber explained that they use lower rates of chemical mowing, a few times a year.
“We like some vegetation, especially stuff like clover in the field, for oxygen purposes,” Amber said. “Also, for growing on such slopes, it helps prevent erosion. It helps keep soil temperatures cooler.”
“Right here where we’re at, we have shallow topsoil or marginal soil at best, so we have to protect that at all means,” Alex said.
Days leading up to when the White House staff would visit Cline Church Nursery, Alex and Amber went through the field measuring trees.
“We measured width with a tape measure at every angle,” Amber said. “We measured height multiple times and double checked our stick heights to make sure we had trees that would meet the specs for The Blue Room. We wound up having six trees that we flagged as possibilities.”
Then on Oct. 9, White House staff visited the nursery and toured the tree field searching for the perfect Christmas tree. They fell in love with the 19-feet-tall by 11.5-feet wide North Carolina Fraser fir.
Alex cut the tree down himself. Then the tree was lifted about 50 feet in the air and swung from the stump to the road. The tree was tied up by hand and placed on a small trailer; then loaded into one of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture’s trucks.
“We cut it and sent it off in style with a big send off from our farm,” Amber said with a laugh. “We had almost 300 people here to see it leave on Nov. 15, and the tree arrived in Washington D.C. on Nov. 17. … From a grower perspective, these kinds of media events and opportunities are really great for us industry wise. I think it’s important to capitalize on the opportunity to advance the entire green industry, and [participating in this contest] was a great way for us to highlight our industry in this region.”
Click here to learn about the history of the White House Christmas trees.
Home for the holidays
Cline Church Nursery was founded by Cline and Ellen Church in 1997. Cline and Ellen both were born and raised in North Carolina. They grew up in a farming family and made their money off the land.
“They started the business when they were very young,” Amber said. “Mom was still in high school, and Dad was fresh out of high school. Mom always says we fell into it. It was basically an opportunity brought to them by the Forestry Service, FFA and North Carolina State University. It was a collaborative effort, and they brought this industry enlarge to the mountains. They had acreage they weren’t using for other things and decided to try tree farming.”
Cline and Ellen harvested their first trees in the early 80s, and to support their tree farming dreams, they farmed row crops – pole beans, potatoes and cabbage. The row crops provided an annual income and the cash flow they needed while waiting seven to eight years for their first tree to come to market.
“In the meantime, they started digging shrubbery and landscape plants.” Alex said. The first time they sold stuff like that, they were actually peddling it off the back of a truck in Ohio. They would work all day, and then drive all night to deliver and try to sell stuff.”
All those same customers that Cline and Ellen picked up back then are still customers now, and those businesses are either being managed by new ownership or by second or third generations.
Today, a second generation is managing Cline Church nursery, Amber and Alex. The nursery specializes in wholesale cut Christmas trees, mostly Fraser firs. Its customer base ranges from other nurseries, pop-up tree stands, landscapers and IGCs throughout the Northeast and Midwest. In the spring and fall months, the nursery sells B&B nursery crops – Norway spruce, Colorado spruce, other evergreens and Dogwood.
“We continue to grow those nursery crops that [my parents] started digging years ago,” Alex said. “We take land that won’t grow Fraser firs, and we put the nursery crops on it. We’ll send the nursery crops to a lot of the same customers that get our Christmas trees.”
“We are reaping a generational blessing that was instilled in our parents and their parents,” Amber said. “We appreciate the land and are truly making our living off of that. It’s an honor to continue their legacy.”
