Christmas tree, winter plant care tips

With a little more than just two weeks to go until Christmas, most people have their Christmas trees up.

If you went the real route, you know there is some maintenance involved with caring for you Christmas tree.

Horiculture Information Specialist at Chalet Nursery in Wilmette, Jennifer Brennan, joined ABC7 Chicago in the studio to tell us the best way to not only care for your holiday tree, but also your other plants this time of year.

There are many recommendations for Christmas tree care, but the Brennan said the best is to just make a fresh cut at the end of the trunk. She added that most places that sell Christmas trees will make the cut for you.

She said you'll want to place the tree trunk into warm water within one hour of the cut and keep the water from evaporating below the cut all season while the tree is indoors.

The early hard freeze at the end of October caught the trees and shrubs off-guard before they had the chance to form the abscission layer between the stems and the leaves in a process called marcescence.

For more information and tips, watch the video above or visit Brennan's website at https://chaletnursery.com/.