The story below is a preview from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
From choose-and-cut farms to specialty large trees, Roanoke Valley Christmas tree growers share tips for selecting, transporting and caring for the perfect holiday tree.
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Christmas tree shoppers in the Roanoke Valley have many options when it comes to selecting Christmas trees. Whether someone wishes to cut their own tree or purchase a pre-cut tree from a farm or a lot, there are an abundance of options.
Three of the area’s leading tree farms offered a taste of the Christmas tree business and offer some insights into how consumers can make the most of their fir, spruce or pine.
“I have a regular customer base that I’ve had for a long time. Some of our customers have been coming here for 30 years or more,” says Frank Nelson, proprietor of Nelson’s Christmas Tree Farm, located in Fincastle. Frank’s parents started the farm more than 35 years ago and he has kept the Botetourt County business operating for the past quarter century.
Nelson’s contains roughly 30 acres of trees on a 144-acre property. They sell Norway Spruce, Canaan Fir, Concolor Fir and White Pine trees. Fir trees are known for their great Christmas fragrance. Nelson notes the Concolor’s uniquely citrusy smell as a unique twist on seasonal scents.
Courtesy of White Horse Farm
Murray Cypress Trees
While many tree farms sell a range of products, Nelson’s focuses on the basics.
“People come to the lot, and we give them a saw. They bring the kids, and they go out and run around the fields. I tell them to stay as long as they want to,” Nelson says. Once customers cut down a tree, they drag it to Nelson’s camper and pay.
Most of the trees on Nelson’s property are 6 or 7 feet tall. He brings in taller Fraser Fir trees from North Carolina each week of the season for customers in search of the much-beloved species.
“I just can’t grow Frasers at our altitude. It’s just not high enough elevation,” Nelson says. “My mother did a lot of work and found that Fraser’s didn’t grow very well here,” he continued.
Nelson’s opens the Friday after Thanksgiving and is open each weekend through Christmas.
Stuart Sours of White Horse Farm echoes Nelson’s sentiments.
“There’s some fir trees like Canaan Fir that grow pretty well at this elevation, but drainage and elevation dictates where you can grow Fraser,” Sours says.
Cindy and Stuart Sours operate White Horse Farm in Callaway. White Horse Farm has six acres currently in production.
Stuart is a retired forest warden who has been growing Christmas trees since 1986. His business started in Roanoke, but he moved his operation to its current location about 25 years ago. White Horse Farm has an assortment of pines with some firs, spruce and Cypress.
“This is a choose-and-cut farm. I’ll be glad to cut it down for them if they want to tag one,” Sours says. Many customers bring their own saw or borrow one of Stuart’s to get the full tree cutting experience.
If customers have a pickup truck, he recommends they bring it for transporting their tree or “we can either wedge it under the trunk or put it on top by tying it through the windows under the grab handles,” Sours says. The butt of the tree should always be facing forward in the car. It’s more aerodynamic that way and it keeps branches from being damaged by the wind.
White Horse Farm has a gift shop which features wooden items handcrafted on the premises.
Every year, Sours keeps pre-cut examples of each of his tree species on display so customers can see what White Horse Farm has to offer. White Horse Farm is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting on Black Friday.
Richard Miles of Dancing Hill Tree Farm has a slightly different Christmas tree business. Located in Bedford, the longtime farm has evolved from a traditional Christmas tree farm into one that specializes in large trees.
Want to learn more about how to choose and cut your own Christmas tree from local Roanoke Valley farms like Nelson's, White Horse and Dancing Hill? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!