Christmas Tree Farms

This holiday season, Marin Mommies has taken the trouble out of finding local Christmas tree farms and lots with our new interactive Christmas tree map!

Click on a Christmas tree marker on our customized Google map to open a popup window for that location—clicking on a link in the window will take you to a listing with location details, hours, and contact information for that tree farm or lot, as well as information about tree types and special features like gift shops, petting zoos, complimentary refreshments, and more.

The Marin and southern Sonoma County Christmas tree farms and lots currently listed on the map some of our and our readers' favorites. If we've missed one that you think should be included, please let us know and we'll consider adding it to the map.

Go to the Marin Mommies Christmas Tree Map »

With Thanksgiving now a pleasant memory, it's time to start thinking of getting that must-have of the holiday season, the Christmas tree. There are those practical people who merely unpack the artificial tree from its storage boxes, and assemble it in the living room, pre-wired, perfectly shaped and sized, and flame-resistant. Then there are those of us who have to have the real deal, despite the inconvenience. There are a number of good Christmas tree lots in Marin including Pronzini's (we've gone to their lot near the Marin Civic Center in years past, and had a great experience there) and McGovern's on McClay Road in Novato, as well as Home Depot, Target, Safeway, and other places to get trees at good prices. But to the hopeless romantics among us, nothing quite beats the experience of going to a honest-to-goodness genuine Christmas tree farm, getting your hands dirty, and cutting the thing down ourselves. Of course it's a great family photo op and usually a lot of fun, too, and those annual trip to the Christmas tree farm remain some of my fondest childhood memories.

The day after Thanksgiving is the time when many families think about getting their Christmas tree. To many, there's no better way to get one than to take the trip to one of the many North Bay Christmas tree farms and cut one down themselves! If playing lumberjack isn't your thing, there are plenty of local lots in Marin that offer quality trees for your holiday.

We visited quite a few Christmas tree farms last year, and we've linked to the reviews where appropriate. Please keep in mind that, unless otherwise indicated, Christmas tree farm reviews were written last year and some information may be out of date. We'll be hitting the road to check out more Christmas tree farms and share them with our readers this season, so check back for updates soon.

Although we make every effort to make sure our information is up to date, please keep in mind that Christmas tree farms do go out of business (there used to be many more in Petaluma and Sebastopol, and even one in Olema), and may be closed due to weather or other conditions. Make sure you call or email them before you go.

If you want to have the experience of choosing cutting down your own Christmas tree, you're going to have to pack the family into the car and head north on 101 to Sonoma County. There, you'll find a selection of Christmas tree farms mostly concentrated in the rural areas of Petaluma and Sebastopol. You can read about our 2007 exploration of Sebastopol Christmas tree farms here.

In this post we'll highlight Christmas tree farms in Petaluma. There are three that we know of: Little Hills Christmas Tree Farm, Larsen's Christmas Tree Farm, and Liberty Christmas Tree Farm. We visited the latter two in 2007, but we swung by this year and they're up and running and the times and prices are pretty much the same as they were last year. Two our knowledge these are the only operating Christmas tree farms in Petaluma.