Christmas tree farms in Pennsylvania

Where are the Christmas tree farms in Pennsylvania?

Everywhere, and we now cover six areas. In the south-east, Lancaster County is the densest — eleven choose-and-cut farms, every one with a 2026 opening date — with Chester next door to the east and York an hour west. Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, has eleven. The Lehigh Valley and the Poconos have fourteen, and Pittsburgh has sixteen within about an hour of the city, including Indiana County, which calls itself the Christmas Tree Capital of the World. Pennsylvania is one of the largest Christmas-tree-growing states in the country, and unlike the southern states it grows a wide range of species rather than one.

What kind of Christmas trees grow in Pennsylvania?

Many more than in the south. Across Lancaster County alone you can cut white pine, Douglas fir, concolor fir, Fraser fir, Korean fir, Turkish fir, Canaan fir, blue spruce, Leyland cypress, Norway spruce and Scotch pine — one farm there grows six species by itself, and two more sell every tree on the place for a single flat price whatever the species. Chester County adds Colorado spruce and white spruce to that list, and is where the Canaan fir is most grown. The North Carolina mountains, by contrast, grow Fraser fir and very little else, because that is what the altitude suits. If you have only ever bought a Fraser, Pennsylvania is where you find out what the alternatives smell and feel like.

Do you have to book or tag a tree in Pennsylvania?

In Lancaster, often, and it surprises people. Tagging — walking the field weeks early, tying a tag to the tree you want and coming back to cut it — opens on 1 October at two Lancaster farms and 31 October at another, and a fourth takes choose-and-cut by reservation only, on five days in the whole season. In York County one farm, McPherson, has opened tagging this autumn, while two others say outright that they do not tag. Turning up on the first Saturday in Lancaster expecting the pick of the field is how people end up disappointed.

When do Pennsylvania Christmas tree farms open?

The earliest open on Saturday 21 November 2026, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and most of the rest on Black Friday, 27 November. Sixteen farms open that Saturday: four in Lancaster, four in Chester, Brown’s in York, four around Pittsburgh, one in the Lehigh Valley and two in Bucks County. Closing dates vary much more than opening ones: Palmer in Mt Bethel shuts on 13 December, and one Lancaster farm stays open every day to Christmas Eve. Several simply open until the trees are gone and say so.

Is Pennsylvania or North Carolina better for cutting your own tree?

They are different trips. North Carolina means Fraser fir, grown at altitude in the Appalachians, and it is the tree most of the east coast buys. Pennsylvania means choice — six or more species on a single farm, and spruces and pines you will not find on a southern farm at all. Pennsylvania farms are also more likely to want you to tag or book ahead.