Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm opens Nov. 19
Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm owner Leo Collins, center, stands with two of his workers at the farm on Brushy Valley Road during the 2025 holiday season. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Days and hours will be Thursday through Sunday until Dec. 21, except Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For 2026, the farm has at least 300 live trees from 9 to 11 feet tall that customers can pick from the fields, along with shorter ones for those who need them.
There also will be a supply of pre-cut Fraser firs from 6 to 10 feet tall, varieties the farm has purchased from outside vendors. They will range in price from $55 to $190.
“The prices of our trees are clearly marked, either with color-coded ribbons or individual price tags,” Collins said. “The trees growing on our farm are mostly Leyland cypress and Norway spruce.
“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 “will have wreaths, roping, swags, and mistletoe.”
The gift shop has tree stands and wreath hangers as well as locally produced ornaments, jams, honey, toys, caps, tee-shirts, and more. The farm accepts cash, cards, or checks.
The store also features bacon and whole smoked country hams from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Ham in Madisonville.
For the past 40-plus 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.