Will you go for the Araucaria Heterophylla as your Christmas tree this Christmas?

Are you up for a cute trendy tree to replace your Christmas tree this year? The Araucaria Heterophylla is a perfect suitor! This tree has less dense branching, which creates much more space for your Christmas decorations. Besides, these trees are much more sustainable than a regular Christmas tree and stay green all year round and don’t lose their needles like regular Christmas trees do. That saves you lots of time cleaning up needles. You might sense that we are pretty fond of these trees and we hope we can make you just as excited!

The Norfolk Island Pine as a Christmas tree!

Her compact and bright green pine branches make her shine. The Norfolk Island pine really looks like a mini Christmas tree and is therefore so much fun to add during the dark months of the year. Thereby, this cute mini Christmas tree is also suitable for a household with children and pets. This is because the branches do not sting, she is actually even cuddly! This Pine-like tree has an official name, namely Araucaria Heterophylla. She is a true houseplant, yet you can also encounter her in nature. For this, you just have to fly to New Zealand ;). So in recent years, this plant is quite often used as a replacement for the Christmas tree, but also just as an extra Christmas decoration next to the Christmas tree.

We would like to show you how you can turn it into a real Christmas tree. For this, we use the atmospheric photos of Norfolk Island Pine fans who got creative in previous years:

Photos: @arja_van_garderen - @wonenaandegentiaan - @groen_stekje - @ohmybookstagram

Photos: @huisje_botanica - @nancypolman - @witwonenopnr12 - @lieks_home

When you see these atmospheric photos, you immediately want one of these TOO cute roomies yourself, don't you? Whether you give her the decoration of a Christmas tree or just put her down without any Christmas decorations, she always shines!

Caring for your Norfolk Island pine

The Norfolk Island pine, or Araucaria heterophylla, is easy to care for. She just doesn't like a place where she gets a lot and often sun, because then her soft branches can ''burn''. In terms of water requirements, she is not at all demanding, so an occasional small splash of water is sufficient. It is very important to let the soil dry out between waterings, as she is sensitive to root rot. So you may not need to water her for a few weeks after a big splash. It is also good to take care not to put her too close to your heater or a stove. These are on more often in the cold months and she will not appreciate the warm, dry air.

Sustainable Christmas tree

Besides looking beautiful, these little trees are also sustainable Christmas trees. You can decorate the Norfolk Island Pine during the holidays, but after Christmas you can just keep her as a normal houseplant. This is because she is a suitable houseplant and, with the right care, can grow a few centimetres every year. She is not a very fast grower though! Just water her a little more often in summer, as the hot temperatures will cause the potting soil to dry out faster.

That was our inspiration blog about the fabulous Araucaria Heterophylla. Have you already got in mind which decorations you will use to make her a little bit extra fabulous? We would love to see how pretty you will make yours look. You can share your photos with us o Instagram, under the hashtag #PLNTS. If you have additional care questions, you can visit our full care page on the Norfolk Island Pine. Otherwise we hope you have a great time decorating your trendy tree and have a merry Christmis with it! :)