Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm opens Nov. 20
Leo Collins, owner of the Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm in Heiskell, chats with a customer during the 2024 Christmas season under the big tent at the farm. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Days and hours will be Thursday through Sunday until Dec. 21, except Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 27), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
While the farm offers some live trees customers can pick from the fields, the bulk of the trees sold will be pre-cut varieties the farm has purchased from outside vendors.
Collins said the farm will have plenty of live and pre-cut trees ranging from about six-and-a-half to 12 feet tall.
“The prices of our trees are clearly marked, either with color-coded ribbons or individual price tags,” Collins posted on Facebook. “The trees growing on our farm are mostly Leyland cypress and Norway spruce from 6-9.5-feet tall. We will sell no more than 400 of these this year in order to have a decent supply for 2026.
“The pre-cut Fraser and Douglas firs will be from 6-12.5 feet. These are cut once a week and brought to farm. Most of these will be for standard 8-foot ceilings, and around 500 will require ceilings 9-13-feet tall,” he said.
Prices are down this year on the pre-cut trees, Collins said.
“The prices of our pre-cut trees are at least $5 less than last year,” he said. “Trees for a standard 8-foot-tall ceiling (7.5 feet tall) are mostly $65 or $75.”
“We will be bringing in Fraser firs, Douglas firs, and Balsam firs., and the Fraser firs are our most-popular variety,” Collins said. “It’s just too warm to grow the firs here.”
Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm, at 985 Brushy Valley Road, Heiskell, also operates a seasonal gift shop, which its Facebook page says is “fully stocked with T-shirts, caps, tree stands, local jams, honey, ornaments, and more.”
The store also features bacon and whole smoked country hams from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Ham in Madisonville.
For the past 40 years, Collins has run the tree farm to serve as a launch pad for many families’ holiday celebrations.
His pre-cut trees are imported from the mountains of Tennessee and western North Carolina for sale in his big tent. Staff members wrap the trees and help people load them in or on top of their vehicles.
The farm has about 15 total employees working for the season helping to wrap and trim the trees for people to take home. About 12 of those are on duty at a time, Collins said.
The gift shop sells some decorating items, including fresh mistletoe and tree skirts, but mostly people buy the locally produced jams, jellies and honey the shop has on display.
Pints of jams and “butters,” such as pumpkin, strawberry and blueberry butter, are available. Jam and jelly flavors include cherry, strawberry, peach, pear, blueberry, strawberry, elderberry, blackberry and cinnamon-pear.
Collins said he originally bought the farm with the idea of growing Christmas trees for people to come and cut their own, a dream he’d had since he was a child.
Over the years, he has dabbled in other businesses on the farm, including a wholesale nursery, grapevines and honeybees.
“They all made money, but they were a lot of work and were not as much fun as Christmas trees,” he said earlier.