Summary of Christmas Tree Improvement  

The Christmas Tree Improvement Program centers on developing superior Fraser fir Christmas trees through long-term, sciencebased selection and seed production. The program began with the 2000 Progeny Test Series led by Dr. John Frampton, evaluating more than 28,000 individual entries from all six natural Fraser Fir regions.  

From these extensive tests, 305 top-performing clones were identified and placed into clone banks for additional research. Continued evaluation narrowed these to the 25 most outstanding clones, all of which were planted in the Upper Mountain Seed Orchard—established in 2018 and uniquely representing genetics from every natural Fraser fir population.  

The Upper Mountain Seed Orchard is the only certified Fraser fir seed orchard in the world, distinguished further by being the only orchard selected for needle retention. It spans 7.5 acres and contains approximately 1,100 trees, with each of the 25 clones replicated about 45 times and arranged using the Optimum Neighborhood Algorithm to maximize genetic diversity and seed quality.  

Seeds produced in the orchard are certified through the NC Crop Improvement Association as Blue Tag Certified, with the first harvest completed in 2025. A dedicated seed center—built in 2026 with support from the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission—now processes these improved seeds on the site of a former Burley Tobacco barn.  

Fraser Fir, often called the “Cadillac of Christmas trees,” dominates North Carolina’s industry, representing 99% of the 4–6 million trees produced annually on roughly 40,000 acres by about 1,300 growers. This improvement program provides growers with high quality, genetically superior seeds to support the long-term health, consistency, and economic success of NC’s Christmas tree sector.