North Carolina Christmas tree farmers are optimistic after Hurricane Helene | North Carolina

Christmas tree farmers in western North Carolina are still trying to rebuild after last year’s devastating Hurricane Helene, but growers are optimistic about the business and the overall strength of the industry in the region.

“We still need the recovery to happen, but we are in much better shape than we were this time last year…sales are good,” Kevin Gray, owner of Hickory Creek Farm Christmas Trees in Greensboro, said earlier this month as the buying season was in full swing.

North Carolina nation second largest Christmas tree grower harvesting 4m trees, mainly Fraser firsIt grows mostly in the western part of the state every year. As people across the country get excited this holiday season at the twinkling lights and gifts piling up beneath the branches, few people who buy a real tree can stop to think about where it came from.

In October 2024, Helene wreaked havoc on the region. killed at least 95 people and causes extensive damage to homes, farms, roads, land and infrastructure. Officials said the storm, which was a category 4 at one stage, was about $125 million only the loss of ornamental nurseries and Christmas trees.

A year later, many growers said their pre-holiday sales were brisk, although full recovery remains distant on some farms.

At Avery Farms, a 200-year-old family business in Avery County, Helene uprooted nearly 80,000 Christmas trees, destroyed fields, equipment and buildings, and destroyed manager Graham Avery’s parents’ home.

That fall, the family sold customers what they could: a limited number of trees, wreaths, branches, and improvised tabletop trees made from salvaged topwood..

This year the focus has been on rebuilding. Avery’s parents’ house was rebuilt with the help of “many people who donated their time,” and they moved back in just a month ago. The family bulldozed damaged fields, fertilized the soil and planted nearly 20,000 trees this spring; this was a long-term project to recover pre-Hellenic production such as Christmas trees. six to 12 years mature.

“It’s going to take some time, but that’s the whole game we play when we’re making Christmas trees. It’s a very long-term investment,” Avery said. “We’re ready to do that and we’ll continue to do that.”

Avery said this season’s sales have been “very, very good” despite inventory being significantly reduced, and the farm has doubled its production of wreaths and shipped them nationwide.

“We haven’t had any problems selling because of the inventory we have,” Avery said.

Despite the devastation some growers are experiencing, the industry remains strong, said Jennifer Greene, executive director of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association.

The 2025 growing season also provided some relief. “We had a great spring with April showers,” he said, noting that the trees “actually had a great growing season.”

“We’re in the middle of a great season, we’re happy there are no hurricanes and we have good weather for harvest. So things are looking good,” he said.

Dee Clark, owner of Christmas Corner and C&G Nursery in Avery County, shared similar optimism, even though retail sales were down last year when a road was wiped out and closed until the summer.

“Early signs look promising,” Clark, 63, said in early December. He added that his son developed social marketing efforts to increase sales.

Clark, a third-generation grower, said Helene destroyed much of his farm’s infrastructure, damaging roads and culverts, triggering landslides that cost nearly 1,000 trees and destroyed vital nutrients in the soil.

Clark, who said the storm “almost bankrupted us,” focused on repairs, reforestation and restoring the land. He expects it will take years to replace the lost trees, and he knows many growers face a similar, long climb. But he said: “The Christmas tree industry in western North Carolina, as a whole, is probably in the best shape it’s ever been in terms of tree supply right now.”

Sam Cartner, owner of Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm, said he felt lucky that no lives or homes were lost in the flood, but the landslide destroyed up to 10,000 trees.

“We probably won’t be able to reforest these areas because the topsoil has shifted,” he said. “If we save all these trees, we will have to find other areas to plant them.”

The Cartners worked quickly and made enough repairs to produce a “relatively normal harvest” last fall, despite extensive damage to roads, bridges and culverts on the property.

In fact, one of their trees was chosen to be displayed at the White House last year.

Cartners’ White House tree for many in the area It became a symbol of resistance. Jamie Bookwalter, an extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recalled attending the send-off ceremony in Avery County.

“This Christmas tree represented a lot of people who were problem solvers,” he said, “which I think is what this part of the country is known for: resilience, problem solving and self-reliance.”

Will Kohlway IV, a Christmas tree production expansion specialist also at NC State, said the Cartners’ ability to harvest and deliver the tree despite everything the region is dealing with exemplifies “the spirit of the mountains and also the Christmas tree growers.”

They named the tree “Tremendous” because “it was truly a monumental effort.”

Bookwalter visited some of the hardest-hit farms in the immediate aftermath of the storm. “Helene was a terrible event, but farming in general is getting more difficult as temperatures become more unpredictable and we have wetter periods; wet periods get wetter, drier periods get drier,” he said. “We are all kind of learning every day.”

He said researchers are working to develop trees that are more resilient to a changing climate.

Kohlway said the public’s support for area growers and farms has been “humbling.”

“Buying a tree supports a farmer in North Carolina,” he said. Bookwalter added that even if the tree was purchased from a big box store, “it really probably represents a pretty small farmer.”