White Christmas trees

Two kinds of white tree

The white foliage trees, such as the 6ft White Spruce, are built like a green tree with hinged branches and PVC needles, only in white. They take decorations the same way and look best with a single strong colour, red or deep blue or black, and either cool white or coloured lights. The white microdot and twig trees have no foliage at all: a white frame carrying warm white LEDs so densely that the shape is drawn in light. They are left bare, stand on a porch or in a hall, and are rated for outdoors.

Lighting a white tree

Light colour matters more on white than on any other tree, because the needles take on the colour of the bulb. Warm white makes a white tree look cream or pale gold, which suits gold and copper decorations. Cool white or ice white keeps it pure white for silver, glass and pale blue. Multi coloured LEDs turn the whole tree into a colour wash after dark, which is the effect the 6ft White Spruce is built for.

Decorating

Fewer baubles, bigger and in one colour, is the rule. Forty to sixty on a 6ft white tree is plenty. Matt finishes show better than glitter. A white tree in a white room needs a coloured ribbon or it disappears; in a dark room it is the brightest thing there and needs almost nothing.

Related trees

For green branches with a white finish, see the snowy and flocked trees. For the darker version of the same idea, the black trees are mostly the same microdot designs in black.