St Peters RC Church Hamilton

The Spruce genus offers the traditional Christmas tree,

But in reality this prickly evergreen

Will grace a garden no matter the season.

The genus gifts us diversity of form,

Fresh scent and gorgeous colours,

So is an all year round good performer,

And a winner when frost white sparkling

Decorates its pine sharp needles delicately.

There is no conifer more Christmassy than spruce,

Its scent encapsulating a Christmas memory for many.

Winter is the spruce star time,

Whilst the deciduous shrubs and trees lose their leaves.

Later in spring, new growth stands out

In sharper, fresher green with the additional interest

Of highly decorative fir cones in buff, brown, red or purple.

Spruce grow in a variety of shapes and sizes

With many forms like cones or weeping structure,

Or the regular, familiar triangular shape

Of the ever most popular Christmas tree.

Some are diminutive slow growers, others can tower,

To form a magnificent specimen, a focal point,

Or maybe a hedge like the renowned leylandii.

There is a spruce that suits just about everybody!

Even some that are slim and pencil straight if space is restricted.

A collection of conifers planted closely can look sensational,

Whilst out of the good Lord’s generosity,

If you want any weed suppressing ground cover,

Certain spruce are your answer in handsome greenery.

Some cultivars are particularly eye-catching,

Boasting steely blue needles which shimmer with frost.

Rimed with frost or carrying a light fall of snow,

You know why the spruce earns its accolade

As a God made specimen fit for any garden.

Enjoying full sun and free draining soil,

There is not too much toil in rearing any baby sapling.

Upright or bendy, straight or bowed down,

Dark reseda green, golden green and blue,

This evergreen foliage is a delight to grow,

Being worthy not fussy, therefore problem free.

What a pity if this genus is confined to Christmas.

Better to explore the store of shape, size and colour,

For you will find I guarantee, a delightful tree treat.

If you can choose and use a living Christmas tree,

How appropriate this is for the time of festivity.

For when dug up, taken indoors and dressed all a-glow

The Christmas tree puts on an unrivalled show!

Lord, at school when we gathered around the Christmas tree to sing carols, we used to sing ‘O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches’. I think of that gloriously happy time to this day, the

Christmas atmosphere of soft lights and a beautifully decorative tree, choirs of voices all contributing to a sense of awe, of reverence, of praise. May we this Christmas, gain once more a true sense of awe and wonder at the splendour of the Nativity story. The Word who created us, He who created the Christmas tree and all the spruce genus, is born amongst us. Christmas is astonishing, all praise ever be. Amen.