I just brought in my Norfolk pine for my tree this year. This is the last year I can use it.

[texanwitch]

After the holidays it will need to be planted.

My young cat is already looking at it, I wonder is it worth my time to decorate it.

She like to climb, poor tree.

[Patiod]

1. That's a nice solution, except for the cat part

Now we just put up an undecorated really-tacky fiber optic tree that our beast can't destroy.

A traditional tree of any sort with tinsel or garland and decorations just looks like a one big Cat Toy.

[mike_c]

2. I have the best solution to xmas tree/cat issues....

Bah humbug. I just decorate the cats.

on edit: it's almost true-- all of my xmas ornaments-- what my daughter used to call "armaments"-- are in a basket on the living room floor for the cats to play with, LOL. I haven't done a tree in years.

[Raffi Ella]

3. What a cool idea

How many years have you been bringing it in?

[texanwitch]

4. This tree is about 3 years old.

I have two getting ready, and I will get another small one or two.


The trees really like here and get very big, I had no idea they got that big.

The birds really like them also, they offer nice shelter near the birdfeeders.

I think I will just decorate the walls, and just put some plastic stuff on the tree, something for the cat to play with.

The kitty is exploring the tree now, she is now looking at me.

She is still a kitten yet, maybe next year she will leave the tree alone.

[Quantess]

5. Sorry to tell you, but,

Norfolk island Pines are hardy only to zones 10-11. Texas is probably 6, 7, or 8. http://www.floridata.com/ref/a/arau_het.cfm

[texanwitch]

6. The Norfolk pines grow big here and our winters are so mild that it take a long

freeze to do any damage and then they can grow back.

I have one in the backyard the lady who owned house before me planted and that tree must at least be between 12 and 15 feet tall.

I have one in the front I planted that is about 10 to 12 feet, they can grew up to 2 feet or more a year, we have long hot summers.

[Quantess]

9. Really? That's surprising.

http://www.pinetum.org/photo1.htm

Are you sure you aren't talking about Araucaria araucana? (monkey puzzle tree)

[texanwitch]

13. No they are Norfolks, she planted it for her grandchild who was born at Christmas.

The lady has passed on but the tree is alive and still growing, I don't how much taller it will grow.

[pitohui]

7. mine lasted only a few years in southeast louisiana

however it certainly lasted longer than the trees that were cut down and then thrown away that same season

reading texanwitch's report, i think mine got to 10 feet before it finally croaked and honestly it may not have been weather that did it, it too may have pet damage, in my case, i had a VERY enthusiastic flock of zebra finches, given time and eternity they'd reduce anything to stick nests

[texanwitch]

10. I haven't done anything special to mine.

Now I live in the inner city, if I lived in the country I don't know if they would grow well.

Last night we got to 37 with frost on the ground the trees are OK.

I have seen lots of big norfolks pines around here, there was a really beautiful forest of them in a yard near me but townhouses are there now.

My trees must like me.

[NewWaveChick1981]

8. My grandmother gave my mother a Norfolk Pine for Christmas in 1990.

It was about eight inches tall when she gave it to Mom. Granny died in 1991. Mom put the pine in a planter, and it has been healthy and transferred to ever-larger planters ever since. I am now the keeper of the Norfolk Pine, and it's six feet tall and in a huge planter. I move it to our deck in the spring, summer, and early fall, then it stays inside in a sunny room in the winter.

[pitohui]

11. yeah mine got too big to keep moving about

so it ended up in the big bird house

planters can work quite well as long as you can move them indoors in winter, but it's possible that once they are of a certain size that being in the ground actually gives them more of a chance

i see this with some other plants around here, a planter tropical plant that's half hardy might be killed by a freeze, same species in the ground can apparently send its roots down to a safe place and come back in the spring, the planter plant can't do that

hmmmm

[texanwitch]

12. Many Norfolks die because of small pots, or being over watered.

I bet your tree is beautiful.

Mine is about 5 feet, it needs to go in the ground and grow big so the birds can hang out in it.

I have one in the front that the second tree grew back and I just let it grow, it is really big.

I thought I was going have to cut the top half off a few summers ago because of the hurricane but the storm went east so the tree stayed big. The tree would have grown a new top.

The trees are really hardy.