Natural or artificial? What size, species, or smell? Report from Muret, where the Fabre family has been selling fir trees every winter for more than thirty years.
Along the edge of the expressway north of Muret, a forest of fir trees has grown since November 24: trees grown in the Montagne Noire (in Aude) and sold by the Fabre family, who have settled here for more than thirty years. Among the conifers, Nathalie guides customerswith the first criterion of choice: size.
Sylvie, a customer, leaves with her Christmas tree, but she had to think: “It's not a headache but you have to find the right tree. And they are beautiful. It must be well stocked and have a nice shape. Me, I'm lucky to have space, so I take a big one every year“.
And since size mattersWalter thinks big. He has just put his tree in his Clio, lowering the seats: “It must be complicated to get into the house! Really at the limit of the ceiling… No, in fact I mainly do it according to my own height: it's a very random calculation but it works! There we are over a good two meters…“
To keep it for a long time: put it in a pot with water
Then there is variety, to choose from. And on this point, Nathalie is rather hip: “If you want your tree to last through all the holidays, get a Nordmann. It keeps its needles, and it lasts the whole month of December, no problem. If you prefer a fragrant tree, get a spruce. But it is more fragile, and it will have to be put in place just ten days before the holidays“.
Moreover, to prevent the tree from smelling like a tree (here we are talking about premature death) the good advice is to put it in a pot, with stones and sand, and give it water. And above all, avoid putting it near a radiator or fireplace.
As for the smellthe real one, also means a lot to Christian, another customer. And definitely don't talk to him about an artificial tree, otherwise you'll get yelled at: “That’s not a tree! It's true that it comes out cheaper in the long run, but for me it's not a deal. There must be a little smell, and even the Nordmanns have it. It must be natural, not artificial.”
Moreover, the manager Jean-Luc Fabre is convinced: synthetic is no longer automatic. “A few years ago, many customers bought “China fir” as I call it. But as they get older, they want to remember the good times before. So they switch to natural fir. And for me, we're going to come back to it more and more“.
Finally there is the decor. And at Christian and Nicole, she’s the one who sticks to it: “I always decorate with a theme. This year, it will be the birds. Everything is planned, everything is organized. It's my hobby!“.
In short, a whole forest of criteria to make a good tree. In Muret, the Fabre family could sell a little less than a thousand in a month.