How A Tree Can Help You Grow Your Business

Hirini Reedy

A tree is a natural example of a perfect business. It energises us with fresh oxygen while recycling our waste air. It absorbs energy directly from the sun while we still have to digest food. It aligns with the forces of nature. Imagine your business is like a tree.

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Make Golden Christmas Trees

Candee Stark

Golden Christmas Tree

Several Years ago while I was shopping for Christmas I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the holiday arrangements at the department store I was in.I was dazzled by the sight, golden branches wrapped in twinkling white lights. The idea was so simple but yet absolutely beautiful.Within a moment I decided I would re-create it at home. Once home, I took a walk in the woods to gather the necessary branches and the other materials were easily found at my local craft store.I created three trees that year and placed them on my front porch; two smaller ones on the left side of the door and a larger one to the right. The effect was just what I had hoped for~ a golden glow that welcomed family and friends into my home for the holidays. Materials Needed for One Tree:Large tree branch that “looks” like a small treeGold spray paintGold fabricGold cordingSoilString of white lightsPlastic garbage bag**********************************************************************1.

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ABAG’s “Be Sewer Smart” Backup Prevention Campaign Gets Smarter with Added Website Planting Guide Resource

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) today announced the addition of a “Sewer Smart Planting Guide” page to its award-winning public service campaign Website, “Be Sewer Smart.” The new Webpage, at www.sewersmart.org/plantguide.html, offers information for homeowners to help them avoid causing expensive and inconvenient sewer backups when making additions to their home landscaping.High on the list of causes of the hundreds of sewer backups and overflows that damage Bay Area homes annually are blockages and other damage caused by roots in sewer lines. Presented in partnership with the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers (CANGC), the City of Oakland’s Public Works Agency and other ABAG member communities, the “Sewer Smart Planting Guide” is designed to help Bay Area homeowners make Sewer Smart planting decisions.ABAG estimates that it costs local homeowners and their communities as much as $20 million annually to undo the damage caused by such backups. Most of these backups occur during the northern California rainy season, which coincides with the fall and winter planting seasons. Each backup prevented can save from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cleanup costs in a single home – a good reason to be “Sewer Smart” when it comes to planting. “The what, where and when of tree planting are important considerations for homeowners this time of year.

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Pre-lit Artificial Christmas Trees - The New Versatility of Christmas Trees Inspire Holiday Decorating Ideas

Fresh-cut Christmas trees are the centerpiece in more than 30 million homes every December, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. But no one can deny that fresh-cut trees are cumbersome, messy, high maintenance and high priced. Ever since the introduction of the first artificial Christmas trees—created in 1930 by the Addis Brush Company, utilizing their toilet brush machinery—Americans have been trying to re-create and re-invent the classic, fresh-cut Christmas tree. But today, Christmas trees come in so many imaginative, versatile and personalized new forms, they inspire terrific holiday decorating ideas and put the fun back into decking the boughs!The tabletop pre-lit Christmas tree is one of this year's hottest holiday accents, according to collectiblestoday.com, the premier Internet shopping site for collectibles and giftware. Tabletop trees give home and professional decorators a lot of options for adding Christmas spirit.

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Learn All About Feng Shui Money Trees

Jakob Jelling

A feng shui money tree is an indoor plant used in order to attract prosperity and wealth into any space. The feng shui money tree's botanical name is Pachira, and its care requires the average sun light and watering that any other indoor plant would need. Its height can reach to as much as seven feet while it can reach to be as much as three feet wide.The shape of these plant's leafs represent the five main elements of feng shui, wood, water, earth, fire and metal, and this is what makes the feng shui money tree so symbolic. When an element is missing, or the elements in a space are not balanced, a feng shui money tree would help adding what is missing harmonizing the elements. Since feng shui money trees bring or increase wealth, they are ideal to place near a place where money is kept or near the cash registers in businesses.

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Artificial Christmas Trees Go Online

http://store.buyhammocks.com introduces its "Holiday Page" at http://store.buyhammocks.com/holidaypage.html just in time for the 2004 Holiday Season. “We have expanded our website to include a wide selection of artificial Christmas trees, wreaths, lights as well as Halloween decorations,” states Hart Baur, partner of Nicamaka Distributors Inc. The Miami based company which operates the website. “Our customer base has expanded and so have our services and product selection.” “Artificial Christmas trees have become a large market for mainly practical reasons,” says Craig Baur, partner of Nicamaka. “They are clean, easy to install, easy to take down, easy to store and will last for many years.” “An artificial Christmas Tree makes perfect sense,” Baur continues.

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Ancient Tea Tree Teas are HOT!

Tea Hub

Although people in Yunnan have been drinking teas made of leaves of ancient tea trees for generations, it is not until recently that people from outside Yunnan become aware of this type of tea. Ancient tea trees are growing in remote tea mountains in Xi Shuang Ban Na, a beautiful autonomy state that is 450 km away from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan. Interests in ancient tea trees are growing rapidly globally.Surrounded by wild orchids, leaves of ancient tea trees have developed long lasting orchid aroma. Have been growing in tea mountains for over thousand years, ancient tea trees have accumulated high concentration of minerals and nutrition. Their leaves have sharp(shaper than cultivated trees) sawtooth edge, thick blades and clear veins.

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Starting Your Own Fruit Trees

Thomas Leo Ogren

*Note: This article first appeared in Grandiflora Magazine.Starting Your Own Fruit Trees Thomas OgrenI flat out love growing fruit trees and have been crazy about them all my life. Or at least, as much of my life as I can remember. Actually, the very first thing I can clearly recall involved fruit trees.I was about three, possibly four years old. It was a warm, lazy spring weekend and my older sisters were gone somewhere with my mom, but my dad was home, working in the garage. I wasn’t allowed to cross the street by myself, but down the block, across the street, was a beautiful pineapple guava tree growing in the middle of some grouchy old man’s lawn.

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Horticultural Therapy

Thomas Leo Ogren

Horticultural Therapy Thomas OgrenThe idea of using gardens and plants as “tools” for therapy is growing fast these days. Makes perfect sense, too. There is a great deal of evidence that working in gardens is wonderful for our mental health. The relation between our mental health and our physical health is a close one. If we feel good about ourselves, about our families, our work, our friends, often our bodies will feel stronger too.

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Insecticides & Fungicides/Spreader-stickers, Wetting Agents: Getting the most out of Your Sprays

Thomas Ogren

Spreader-stickers, Wetting Agents: Getting the most out of Your SpraysSpreader-stickers or if you prefer, sticker-spreaders, are agents we can add to garden sprays to make them more effective. These additives are commonly used in commercial horticulture and in agriculture, but for some reason are as yet relatively unknown to most gardeners.Sticker-spreaders can be made of many different components, organic or inorganic. Often the actual ingredients in a particular brand of sticker-spreader will be kept secret, as a proprietary formulation known only within the company producing it.Some brands use silicone-based surfactants, oils, emulsifiers and buffering agents, while others may use odd combinations of things like fish oil and fatty acid soaps. Several are made entirely from some sort of emulsified soybean oil. Actually, common dish soap will act as a sticker-spreader, it just won’t be as effective.To be totally technically correct here, sticker-spreader is a combination of two adjuvants.

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THE MONEYMAKER PECAN TREE

Irvin L. Rozier

Isaiah 11.1 "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:"I live in a pecan orchard where most of the trees are at least 80 years old. One of the varieties the original owners of the land planted was called a "moneymaker". This pecan is round, has a good flavor and a hard shell..It is a tough nut to crack by hand. Since 1962, when we moved on this place, we have gathered hundreds of pounds of these delicious nuts, and the trees have given up some to the squirrels and birds.One of my moneymaker trees was huge...about four feet in diameter, and usually produced over 200 pounds of pecans. Then, one year, it was struck by lightning, and one side of it begin to die.

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How to Modify Your Landscaping to Protect Your House from Burglars

TC Thorn

Believe it or not, landscaping can be an important part of a good home security plan. A burglar who is "casing the joint" from the street will choose the house with tall shrubs and trees that provide hiding places. Homes with little or no outdoor lighting are preferred targets as well.So, how can you landscape to protect against burglars while still creating an aesthetically pleasing yard? Here are a few tips:You don't need to eliminate trees, but keep them trimmed back from your house; tree branches can be used as a ladder if they are next to a window or skylight.Mow your lawn regularly; an unkempt lawn can suggest to a thief that the owners are away on a trip.Store ladders, lawn chairs, and picnic tables out of sight lest they be used as a means to reach high windows.Trim back shrubs growing near doors and walkways, keeping them 3 feet or shorter in height. Also, don't allow shrubs to block any of your windows.Adding gravel under windows makes for noisy footing for would-be thieves.Consider planting thorny bushes (of the low growing variety) around windows. Some examples are: Hawthorne, Rose Shrub, and Barberry.Forgo privacy and keep your trees and shrubs trimmed back in order to allow a clear view of the outside of your house.

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Remarkable Trees at Great Sand Dunes

Diane Winger

“I think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.”-- Joyce KilmerFor gigantic trees, head to Sequoia or Redwood National Parks. For colorful autumn trees, head to Blue Ridge Parkway or Arcadia National Park. But, for some unusual and remarkable trees, visit southern Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.Our first stop: the Ghost Forest. Portions of the tallest sand dunes in North America (rising nearly 750 feet from the valley floor) sometimes escape the main dune field and try to smother nearby groves of ponderosa pine and cottonwood trees. Sometimes the cottonwoods manage to outsmart the sand by essentially converting low branches into roots.

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Is the Chipko Movement Towards Forest Appraisal

M.Aparna

“Let us protect and plant the treesGo awaken the villagesAnd drive away the axemen.”- Ghanshyam SailaniThe forests of India are the unique resources for the survival of the rural people of India which were exploited greatly for commerce and industry. The Chipko Movement of India taken birth in Himalayan foothills gained great significance throughout the world’s environmentalist circles for its successful efforts against deforestation. Chipko, which means literally “to embrace” has spread to many other parts of India and has drawn worldwide attention for its resourceful efforts to fight against deforestation and thereby protecting ecology and society. Women played a unique role in making success of the Chipko Movement because they being the dependents on the fuel, wood and fodder for survival found it difficult to procure them for over the last several decades.In an Indian Civil Society, the workday of the women starts early in the morning. Particulary in the hilly areas, they should fetch water, grind wheat for bread, fulfil the needs of the husband and children, and finally sets out to forest for fuelwood, grass and leaf fodder for animals, etc.

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Five Tips For Garden Sanctuaries

Robin Mastro

The design of your garden has an amazing affect on your family’s health and well-being. Here is how you can create harmony in your garden—which is considered a living entity—and bring peace and happiness within your home. Vastu Shastra is an environmental science written about some 7,000 – 10,000 years ago in India by rishis, or men of great wisdom. They observed the workings of Nature and recorded how different rays of the sun, the magnetic poles, the makeup of the land, soil, slope, structures, etc. affected all living things.

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Growing Japanese Bonsai Trees for Bonsai Gardens

Christopher Chase

As you go through the history of Japanese bonsai trees (among others), you will note that this term is used to refer to a ‘plant in a pot’. As per the information provided on Harvard's Arnold Arboretum site, "the ancient Chinese were the first to miniaturize trees for ornamental purposes, around A.D. 200. Later, the Japanese, who used it to create beautiful gardens, adopted the bonsai technique. Basically, the bonsai are outdoor plants and they flourish in cool and humid conditions, away from the bright sunlight for most parts of the day.

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10 Free Gardening Products

Linda Gray

One of the pleasurable spin-offs in organic gardening is finding alternative ways of coming up with the same, if not better, end result.....Household throwaways can be valuable to the alternate enthusiast. Here are ten recyclable ideas to make gardening a little less hard on the pocket!1. Hedge clippings: Instead of burning or direct composting, beg, borrow or even buy, if the quantity justifies the price, an electric garden muncher.Branches up to an inch in diameter are posted into a slot and the machine munches them up into small chips. Spread these chips thickly around shrubs or fruit trees to help keep moisture in, and control the temperature of the soil.2. Food Waste: All food waste must be composted.

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Don’t Cook The Trees – Barbecue Safety

Les Brand

My first experience of a barbecue was as a seventeen year old at a friend'shouse. His farther, Douglas, was an expert at barbecuing, with many yearsexperience, we thought! It was a hot summers day but with a light breeze, so Douglas, with all that experience, decided to erect a cardboard frame about one foot high around three sides of the barbecue. The barbecue grill itself, which was fuelled with charcoal, was positioned next to, and underneath, some trees in the back garden. Not having seen a barbecue being lit before I was keen to watch, and moved in closer. Douglas placed the firelighters in the grate, set fire to them and arranged the charcoal in a pyramid over them.

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Cherry Tea From the Cherry Tree

Angelique Watkins

The information shared in this article does not replace your doctor's advice. Always seek professional help.God Is Real and Recovery is of God.Genesis 1:29 and 30And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every living thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so.John Eddie"JJ"Jones SVP PacificRimDGroup sharing about his family.My late Mother Mrs. Louella Tidwell Jones lived another 33 years from 1967 until June 29, 2000 after her diagnosis with Type 2 Diabetes, without ever having to take a shot of insulin or take any other type of medication.My Dad's Grandmother Mrs. Mattie Hearns Jones, a full-blooded Chickasaw Indian, told my mother of an Indian remedy for the "Sugar" as she called it. Simply brew some "Cherry" leaf, bark or limb tea and drink it instead of or in addition to drinking Lipton Teas.

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Ten Alternatives to Cutting Down a Tree for Christmas

Andrea Lee

Ten Alternatives to Cutting Down a Tree for ChristmasFirst, congratulations.As someone who is considering an alternative to the 'cut' Christmas Tree, I salute you for having a mind that is open to creative possibilities!Here are Ten Alternatives to Cut Christmas Trees, with some direct links to for each option whenever possible. I hope you enjoy creating a new tradition and welcome you to the special group of folks choosing against a cut tree.1. Instead of a cut Christmas tree, try a living tree, in a pot. A living tree isn't thrown out after Christmas, and can continue to oxygenate your surroundings making your air quality better. If you choose to plant your living tree outdoors in your yard or garden after Christmas, you've now added value to your property and beautified your surroundings.

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Creative Landscaping with Railroad Ties

Jack Stone

Creative Landscaping with Railroad TiesArticle by Copyright © 2003 by ProGardenBizProGardenBiz, an online magazinehttp://www.progardenbiz.comDid you know that people are still using railroad ties for all sorts of decorative and functional purposes throughout their landscapes? You didn't? Well, where have you been? Railroad ties are used by landscape contractors as a main design component of landscaping both homes and businesses. The use of railroad ties make work easier for grounds maintenance.Before we talk about all the great things you can do with railroad ties let's talk about how easy and inexpensive they are to use when compared to various brick and block structures. The nicest thing about railroad ties is the ease with which they can be used. It requires much less skill to construct a retaining wall of ties than one of block. For one thing you don't have to be overly concerned about perfectly straight lines.

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How to Start and Run a Landscape & Garden Maintenance Business

Jack Stone

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.How to Start and Run a Landscape & Garden Maintenance BusinessArticle by Copyright © 2003 by ProGardenBizOwn your business, own your job, own your life.Statistics show that nine out of every ten new businesses fail.Most of these businesses fail within the first year. The restdon't make it past their third anniversary. Given such dismalodds why would you want to start a landscaping orinteriorscaping business?First of all because the odds are better than you think.Landscaping and interiorscaping are service businesses. Aservice business is the most easy business to start and besuccessful.

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Are There Too Many Trees In Your Forest?

Arleen M. Kaptur

Internet marketing is a great way to introduce a product/service, sell it to customers or clients, and reap the benefits of satisfied buyers and monetary gain. If you have a product/service, you write a descriptive advertisement for it, listing all the features, the dynamics, exclusive properties, endorsements, testimonials, test results, and so on, and so forth. With all this information, you end up with volumes of written words and numerous pages for your visitors to go through. You have included just about every phrase that would pertain to your product/service and used a Thesaurus to find even more descriptive phrases. There isn’t an adjective around that you have not utilized and as for bullets and other fancy features, you’ve covered each and every one of them.

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Acquiring & Caring For Bonsai

Sara Chute

Acquiring & Caring For BonsaiMost bonsai trees sold at garden centers and nurseries are of excellent quality, but there are a few points to bear in mind when buying a new plant.  Age and shape of the tree  General health  Soil should be damp but not soggy, unless it has just been watered  Leaves should look bright and healthy, not burnt around the edges or spotty  If buying a deciduous tree in winter, last year's growth should be smooth and plump, with no sign of bark wrinkling  The tree should be steady in its container, which should have at least one drainage hole  A white fungus in and around the drainage hole is natural and harmless General CarePurchasing A TreeWhen buying a tree from a store during the summer, be sure to give it at least 2 weeks outside, avoiding heavy rain and high winds before displaying it indoors. If purchasing in winter, however, do not allow it to be exposed to frost for the rest of the season, as it will probably have begun to shoot. This is most important with deciduous trees, and while varieties of junipers are very hardy it is as well not to take any chances.Most bonsai are hardy trees and shrubs whose natural habitat is out in the open. They are not permanent houseplants; and even semi-tropical trees should be placed outside when weather permits.

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Why Do Trees, Frogs and People Exist

Tom Horn

WHY DO TREES, FROGS AND PEOPLE EXIST?It’s a miracle that we are here at all. Our very best researches tell us that the whole world has been going down the tubes from the very beginning. It’s true. As far as we can tell from examining processes that we can understand, the whole of existence is sliding into formlessness. This can be demonstrated by thinking of a snooker table with all the balls set up in their initial pattern.

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Aluminum Christmas Tree Museum Opens to Protect Endangered Species

In a land known for protecting trees and the environment, a new museum now serves to preserve the legacy of the evergreen's distant cousin... the aluminum Christmas tree. The Aluminum Tree & Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center (ATOM) will display over thirty vintage aluminum trees from the 1950's and 1960's. Numerous color wheels and revolving tree stands from the era will be interspersed with artifacts from the aluminum trees' glory years. The Brevard Museum's Curator, Stephen Jackson, says "I am very pleased that Brevard College's Porter Center will host the display of this unique museum...

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Make Golden Christmas Trees

Candee Stark

Golden Christmas Tree

Several Years ago while I was shopping for Christmas I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the holiday arrangements at the department store I was in.I was dazzled by the sight, golden branches wrapped in twinkling white lights. The idea was so simple but yet absolutely beautiful.Within a moment I decided I would re-create it at home. Once home, I took a walk in the woods to gather the necessary branches and the other materials were easily found at my local craft store.I created three trees that year and placed them on my front porch; two smaller ones on the left side of the door and a larger one to the right. The effect was just what I had hoped for~ a golden glow that welcomed family and friends into my home for the holidays. Materials Needed for One Tree:Large tree branch that “looks” like a small treeGold spray paintGold fabricGold cordingSoilString of white lightsPlastic garbage bag**********************************************************************1.

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ABAG’s “Be Sewer Smart” Backup Prevention Campaign Gets Smarter with Added Website Planting Guide Resource

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) today announced the addition of a “Sewer Smart Planting Guide” page to its award-winning public service campaign Website, “Be Sewer Smart.” The new Webpage, at www.sewersmart.org/plantguide.html, offers information for homeowners to help them avoid causing expensive and inconvenient sewer backups when making additions to their home landscaping.High on the list of causes of the hundreds of sewer backups and overflows that damage Bay Area homes annually are blockages and other damage caused by roots in sewer lines. Presented in partnership with the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers (CANGC), the City of Oakland’s Public Works Agency and other ABAG member communities, the “Sewer Smart Planting Guide” is designed to help Bay Area homeowners make Sewer Smart planting decisions.ABAG estimates that it costs local homeowners and their communities as much as $20 million annually to undo the damage caused by such backups. Most of these backups occur during the northern California rainy season, which coincides with the fall and winter planting seasons. Each backup prevented can save from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cleanup costs in a single home – a good reason to be “Sewer Smart” when it comes to planting. “The what, where and when of tree planting are important considerations for homeowners this time of year.

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Plan Before You Plant

Jean Fritz

It’s winter, and as you gaze out your picture window, all you see is a 50 square foot patch of bare dirt. After a foray through the top 10 plant catalogues armed with a major credit card and your vivid imagination, that space is crowded with shrubs, bedding plants, bulbs and foliage, all competing for light, water and nutrients. You’ve created a plant riot.Planning is vital to creating a noteworthy garden, and winter is the best time to sit down with pencil, paper and reference books. A good garden plan can save time, money and heartache.SET YOUR SIGHTS ON YOUR SITEWhere is your future garden located? Is it visible to the entire neighborhood, or to your eyes only? Does it receive full sun, or is it shaded part of the day? What is the soil type? All of these factors need to be considered during your planning phase, and will help you screen out your plant choices.DO YOU HAVE A PURPOSE IN MIND?Your site may also help determine the garden’s purpose. I have two beds within 5 feet of my kitchen door, so they are dedicated to herbs and salad fixings (I can come home from work, pick dinner, go inside and eat.) If your garden is surrounded by a privacy fence, you could consider installing a wildflower plot, or a garden designed with birds and butterflies in mind.

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Pre-lit Artificial Christmas Trees - The New Versatility of Christmas Trees Inspire Holiday Decorating Ideas

Fresh-cut Christmas trees are the centerpiece in more than 30 million homes every December, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. But no one can deny that fresh-cut trees are cumbersome, messy, high maintenance and high priced. Ever since the introduction of the first artificial Christmas trees—created in 1930 by the Addis Brush Company, utilizing their toilet brush machinery—Americans have been trying to re-create and re-invent the classic, fresh-cut Christmas tree. But today, Christmas trees come in so many imaginative, versatile and personalized new forms, they inspire terrific holiday decorating ideas and put the fun back into decking the boughs!The tabletop pre-lit Christmas tree is one of this year's hottest holiday accents, according to collectiblestoday.com, the premier Internet shopping site for collectibles and giftware. Tabletop trees give home and professional decorators a lot of options for adding Christmas spirit.

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How to Choose the Perfect Artificial Christmas Tree and Christmas Decorations

With the advent of artificial Christmas trees in a myriad of sizes and styles, decorating for the holidays has evolved into an often intimidating task. Is there a straightforward approach to choosing the perfect artificial Christmas tree? Yes, according to Diane Ladley of collectiblestoday.com, a popular internet shopping site offering premium-quality artificial Christmas trees from Roman, Inc. "First and foremost," says Ladley, "consider safety and quality. Second, decide upon a theme for your Christmas decor, and make your Christmas tree the centerpiece."In today's market, Christmas trees from reputable manufacturers will have a number of safety features. Flame resistant components are a must and, in the case of pre-lit Christmas trees, UL® approval is mandatory.High-quality construction and ease of use are also important.

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How A Tree Can Help You Grow Your Business

Hirini Reedy

A tree is a natural example of a perfect business. It energises us with fresh oxygen while recycling our waste air. It absorbs energy directly from the sun while we still have to digest food. It aligns with the forces of nature. Imagine your business is like a tree.

Read Full Article