By Sarah Lawrence
Member of the RCM Executive Committee

Think of a bunch of cut flowers. You would never put them in an empty vase with no water in, would you? Yet a surprising number of people buy a Christmas tree and never water it. Then they wonder why it starts to wilt and shed its needles and its baubles start to fall off!

But it’s worse than that - a dried out Christmas tree is a huge fire risk. If any spark set it alight, it would woosh up into an inferno within seconds. There are some horrifying videos on this on YouTube. Whereas a regularly watered tree is much harder to set alight and will burn much more slowly.

I was queuing outside our village butcher’s the other morning and we got talking about Christmas trees and two people in the queue (which stretched halfway down the high street) said that they never think to water their trees because they think there’s no point if it’s a cut tree with no roots. And over the last couple of weeks, several friends of mine have said the same. But that is simply not the case - all cut trees should be watered every day - as much as a couple of pints a day, depending on the thickness of the trunk. Apart from minimising the risk of fire, your tree will look a lot better for it - plumper, greener and more upright.

Of course, a tree with roots is better still - looked after properly it can be planted out in the garden if you have one big enough and kept for the following year. One of our neighbours has got one growing in his front garden which is now too big to bring in so they decorate it as an outdoor tree and it looks lovely.

So do remember, over the Christmas period to keep your festive tree looking good and not a fire hazard - regularly pour water (ordinary tap water is fine) into the bottom of its container. And also don’t put presents so close under the tree that the wrapping paper comes into contact with the branches.

Have a lovely Christmas wherever you are and stay safe.