Marc Meier, above, has been selling Christmas trees at his restaurant, the Cedar Inn Drive-In, for six seasons.

A staple this time of year, the Christmas tree comes in many different forms – each with its pros and cons.

Small trees are easier to haul, cheaper and quicker to decorate. However, they do not offer the same grandeur as their eight, nine and 10-foot counterparts.

Artificial trees can be reused every year and, conveniently, keep their needles to themselves. But, many purists argue they simply cannot replace the feel and smell of a real tree, nor the experience of picking it out.

Now, a new consideration may be affecting the way people shop for Christmas trees: they are simply becoming harder to find. At least, the real ones are.

“We’ve been struggling the past couple years,” says Marc Meier, owner of Blue Earth’s Cedar Inn Drive-In. “The product just hasn’t been there.”

Meier, with the help of his father-in-law, has been selling live Christmas trees from the Cedar Inn’s parking lot for the past six years. He entered the business when a local live tree retailer decided to call it quits.

“Blue Earth Landscape was in the business for a lot of years,” he recalls. “Their last Christmas was in 2016.”

Upon learning the news, Meier decided to take it upon himself to provide live Christmas trees for the area.

“We wondered where people were going to get trees,” Meier remembers. “I had the space and time to do it.”

A year later, in 2017, “We kind of picked up where (Blue Earth Landscape) left off,” Meier says. “They actually helped us get started. We’ve been working with the same farm that they worked with throughout their years.”

Meier’s tree supplier, Merrillan Wisconsin’s Northern Family Farms, has been in the tree growing business for over 60 years.

“They have a very good reputation,” Meier says.

However, it seems even experts are struggling to yield enough Christmas trees to meet the nation’s demand this holiday season.

Meier says his order from Northern Family Farms was reduced by 30 percent last year, and 35 percent this year. Additionally, tree prices have inflated to offset the low supply.

“Absolutely everything was more expensive,” Meier says. “My cost was 25 percent more this year. It usually goes up 10 to 15 percent.”

Ali Foth, Blue Earth’s Bomgaars manager, says her store, which sources trees from Michigan West Shore Nursery, has also experienced some tree shortages over the past few years.

“I know last year they shorted us on some,” Foth says. “This year we were missing some, but they did eventually get us all the trees we ordered.”

Meier suggests several issues which may be causing the tree supply to dwindle.

“(Wisconsin) had some drought in 2012 and 2013,” Meier explains. “Now, nine to 10 years later, when the seedlings should be full-grown, they don’t have as many because some of the seedlings died. They have thousands of acres of trees; they can’t regrow and replant.”

Lack of rain has been a problem over the past few years, too, potentially affecting the freshness of recent crops of trees.

Meier says this year’s trees have also suffered deer damage – particularly the large ones.

“Deer have been eating the bottom limbs,” Meier explains. “10-foot Fraisers are six to seven feet tall this season.”

Keith Rinehart, who co-owns Kiester’s Rustic Pines Tree Farm with his wife, Carol, agrees that any tree growing operation is going to be subject to the whims of the weather.

“So much is dependent on the weather,” he says. He recalls a season three years ago when a foot of snow blanketed all of the trees at the onset of November, weighing down their boughs and distorting their shape.

He observes, however, “Regardless of the weather, certain weather is better for some (tree) varieties than others. Every year is different; you never know which species is going to thrive.”

Meier’s current crop of trees exemplifies this. He received few large Fraisers in this season’s batch, but he did receive plenty of large Balsams.

Meier says that, though he may have received less of them than usual, the trees he has received this season have been of good quality.

“What we got, we got good stuff,” Meier says. “We ended up with shorter trees, but still good quality.”

Meier’s experiences apparently echo those of other retailers. For many, trees are becoming more expensive and harder to come by.

However, as a choose-and-cut operation, Rinehart shares that Rustic Pines has actually experienced an increase in business over the past few years, selling approximately 125 to 135 trees per season.

“The last two years were phenomenal for us – the COVID years,” Rinehart says.

Rinehart reports that he has not experienced the product shortages which large Christmas tree farms seem to be suffering. He theorizes it has to do with the size of his operation.

“Retailers typically don’t get their trees from small operations like ours,” he observes. “They get them from wholesalers.”

He observes that large-scale, wholesale operations are typically unable to provide the same level of care to individual trees which smaller operations are able to provide.

“The large wholesalers, they do not water trees. They’ve found out it’s not cost effective,” Rinehart says. He also theorizes that the risky market following COVID’s onset repelled many large tree operators, causing them to supply less of their product.

Finally, Rinehart believes the tree growing industry – which requires a fair amount of elbow grease – is attracting fewer operators.

“The Christmas tree industry is very labor intensive,” Rinehart explains. “We don’t see a lot of people willing to do that much work. From the first of April to the first of January there are always things to do.”

Whether due to the effects of weather, wholesaler growing techniques or rising costs, the shrinking supply of live Christmas trees seems to have affected customers’ shopping patterns.

Meier recalls there was a rush on trees at Cedar Inn Drive-In the week before Thanksgiving this year, which is unusually early. He had just 12 trees left as of Monday, Nov. 28.

“I think the shortened supply made people act quicker this year,” he says.

Rustic Pines, which opens on Black Friday each season, had cut 65 trees as of last weekend.

Rinehart observes many of his recent customers have been families in search of a memorable experience. He believes this is part of the reason his sales have soared since COVID.

“COVID brought a return to family values for a lot of people,” Rinehart suggests.

The Rineharts capitalize on memorability at their operation. They offer families the opportunity to cut their own tree, and complimentary cider and hot chocolate when they are through.

“We want everyone to go away with a smile on their face,” Rinehart summarizes. “Most choose-and-cut farms try to do something to make it memorable.”

He has noticed that Rustic Pines’ clientele has expanded in recent years.

“In the last two years, we’ve more than doubled the distance that we’re pulling customers from,” Rinehart says. He notes customers have traveled from as far away as Des Moines, La Crosse and the Twin Cities to cut their own tree.

Meier also says he has received more customers from towns outside Faribault County, such as Fairmont, over the past few years.

The wider-ranging clientele could be spurred by fewer Christmas tree retailers in the area. Just this season, Smith’s Greenhouse, which had sold live Christmas trees in Fairmont for years, announced its exit from the business.

Other holiday retailers have also decided the pricey, labor-intensive business is not worth the trouble.

Elmore Nursery & Wreath Companies is one such business. They used to sell live trees, but decided decades ago to shift their focus to wreaths, garlands and other holiday greenery.

“Trees are extremely expensive. There’s a big shortage; there’s not enough to go around,” says manager Frank Haag.

Many area businesses have found success by sticking to greenery. A particularly popular offering, of late, has been the ‘porch pot,’ a large pot containing a miniature, festively-decorated tree.

Bricelyn’s Brush Creek Boutique says its porch pots have been popular sellers, along with fresh greenery and other Christmas decor.

Other area greenhouses and florists offer porch pots along with traditional Christmas greenery. Gartzke’s Floral and Gifts, in Blue Earth, offers porch pots, pine and wreaths, and Blue Earth’s Twisted Vine Floral, offers porch pots – both pre-made and custom made – as well as spruce tops, wreaths and garlands.

Though locals like the porch pots, area greenery retailers seem fairly certain that customers are purchasing the pots as outdoor decoration, not as replacements for traditional Christmas trees.

Apparently, for some – both customers and retailers – the live tree business is still worth the effort.

“We love doing it – it’s a fun time of year,” Meier says. “People get so excited when they come and they smell and they feel the soft trees.”

Rinehart agrees. “This time of year is very rewarding for us,” he says. “It’s really fun to see the families coming back; we’re actually seeing third generations now.”

He thinks taking the time to purchase a live Christmas tree is worth the effort for his customers, too.

“It’s a family experience,” he says. “You pile into the car, and you make an afternoon of it. Families need that. People need to keep in mind, Christmas is supposed to be about getting together with loved ones and sharing the joy.”