For John Burton of Mossyrock, growing Christmas trees has been the family business since before he was even born.
His father, Charley Burton, first opened the Bear Canyon Tree Farm in the Cascade foothills near Mossyrock in 1949, growing and selling Christmas trees commercially.
Now, John runs the Christmas Hills Tree Farm, which started as a 55-acre plot he first purchased from Leo Waldock — of the now-closed Waldock Ace Hardware in Chehalis — in 1986.
The farm specializes in growing noble fir Christmas trees in both a green variety and a rare variant John refers to as “Burton blue,” which have a unique bluish-gray hue to their needles, making them highly sought after by some.
John met with The Chronicle on Tuesday, Dec. 3, to talk about his family’s farm, how his trees have been in places across the globe — from the White House to Asia — and how his strictly wholesale business is now offering online green noble fir tree sales with delivery directly to customers’ front doors.
Living in Chehalis as a newlywed back in 1986, John had no plans of opening his own tree farm until he was approached with an offer to buy land.
“We would go to (Waldock’s) store because we were living there at the time, and he told me about this property that he owned and if I would be interested. I thought, ‘That’s just crazy, I’m newly married and have no money,’” John said. “... He made me a heck of a deal, though, and we bought the original 55 acres for $25,000.”
His new property was mostly timber at the time, and logging the land and selling the timber helped pay it off. Given his family already had good footing in the Christmas tree industry, John decided to go ahead and jump in himself.
“My dad actually planted the first noble firs for Christmas trees in the industry,” John said.
After clearing his own land in 1987, John planted his own first crop of noble firs.
“We’ve just been growing trees ever since and adding onto that original property,” John added.
The farm is located southeast of Mossyrock and now encompasses more than 600 acres in the area, along with some areas in nearby Silver Creek. While he didn’t know the exact figure, he estimated there were at least between 500,000 and 600,000 trees growing on the farm at any given moment.
“I think we’re the largest Christmas tree farm in the state,” John said.
While the farm specializes in noble firs, John does grow other varieties of fir trees, but he estimated at least 70% of his land is dedicated to noble fir production.
The Cascade region in the Pacific Northwest is one of the only areas in the world where noble firs can grow. It’s also where the species originated.
“There are a couple other places in the world where they can grow. Scotland seems to have the right climate and right soil. They may also grow in a couple places in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, but they all originate from here,” he said.
As for the new option Christmas Hills Tree Farm now offers — allowing customers to order green noble fir trees online and have them shipped directly to their door — the idea actually came from John’s nephew Brian Collins who also works at the farm.
“He does quite a bit of sales on eBay,” John added.
It costs $59.99 for a 3-foot noble fir, $79.99 for a 4-foot noble fir, $119.99 for a 5-foot noble fir and $139.99 for a 6-foot noble fir on the farm’s website, with free shipping and tracking via UPS.
Currently, they’ve had a total of 12 online sales, including multiple ones going out of state to Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho and New York.
His wholesale trees go mostly to retail garden centers located from the Pacific Northwest to as far across the country as Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
John hopes to get good customer reviews from his first few online sales to help fuel more, though his farm’s trees have already been selected to be displayed at some very prestigious locations.
One of those locations was the White House in 2004, when then-White House Chief Usher Gary Walters and then-Superintendent of the White House Grounds Irv Williams personally visited Christmas Hills Tree Farm to hand-pick a Christmas tree for the Blue Room, the main parlor in the White House.
Trees for the White House are typically chosen from the grand champion of the National Christmas Tree Association growers contest each year, which has been presenting the official White House Christmas trees for display in the White House since 1966, along with trees for the president’s vacation home, Camp David.
It wasn’t the first year his family had one of their trees taken to the White House, either.
“The landscaper, the usher, they have like life-time appointments pretty much. They don’t change ushers when they change presidents,” John said. “Gary had been to my parents’ farm when they took a tree from it to the White House in 1987.”
Having gotten his start at the White House working for the U.S. Secret Service, Walters had been the White House assistant chief usher since former President Gerald Ford appointed him to the position in 1976, and had just been appointed chief usher by former President Ronald Regean in 1986 — a year prior to visiting the Bear Canyon Tree Farm.
In 2004, John’s mother came over during Walters’ visit and got the chance to catch up with him before he went out to pick a tree.
“We had several potential trees picked out, and we let him come and make the final selection about which one he wanted,” John said.
Despite his trees going to the White House that year, John hadn’t been crowned the National Christmas Tree Association’s 2004 grand champion, but some friends of his had.
Those friends were Carol and John Tillman, of Satsop.
“(Tillman) won the competition, but did not have a suitable tree. He didn’t have anything tall enough, but I did,” John said.
Trees chosen for the White House Blue Room are typically 18 feet tall.
One of the Tillmans’ trees was still selected for the Oval Office, and the Tillmans were personally invited to the White House to watch it be put on display.
Not only have Christmas Hills Tree Farm trees been to the White House, they’ve also been chosen for Christmas celebrations in Asia, including the 2023 Christmas celebration at Hong Kong Disneyland.
And anyone flying into Hong Kong this December will see trees from John’s farm inside the Hong Kong International Airport.
“There’s like 50 of our trees in the airport there,” John said.
A hotel in Shanghai, China, also purchased trees from John this year, along with other orders coming from Singapore, Malaysia, and even Jakarta, Indonesia.
“Jakarta was a new one. It was funny, the gal was here looking at trees, and I said to her, ‘Well, Jakarta is predominantly Muslim, right?’” John said. “And she said, ‘Yes, but I’m Catholic.’”
For now, though, most of this season’s Christmas trees have already been sent out and shipped to his wholesale customers, so John and his family can now focus on trying to figure out their online tree sales.
Those interested in more information or in purchasing a fir from Christmas Hills Tree Farm can do so by visiting the farm’s website at christmashillstreefarm.com/.
