Houstonians outraged over bare Christmas trees

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - It’s one of the main symbols of the Christmas holiday. A Christmas tree adorned with ornaments, lush and green, with gifts underneath. But some Houstonians are outraged after trees they purchased dried up after a few days.

Those customers purchased their Christmas trees from the Houston Garden Center, and took to social media to share their outrage. Well, the Houston Garden Center reached out to us for an opportunity to set the record straight.  During their 51 years of selling Christmas trees, this is the first time they have had so many complaints about trees losing their needles.

Tracy Dupre bought her tree last week from the Houston Garden Center but within five days almost all the needles had fallen off.

“We were waiting for my daughter that’s in college to come home and then we were going to decorate it. And then one of the elves I guess was on the tree, and when one of the elves got on the tree, all the needles just fell, so we figured there’s no way to put ornaments on the tree,” says Tracy, who paid $150 for her tree.

Houston Garden Center spokeswoman Sydney Hooper tells us it's the unusual weather that's to blame.

“The weather has been different and it’s been cold and when people have to use their heaters for an extended period of time it takes all the humidity out of the air and dries up the trees, which is why they’re defoliating.”

However, Dupre says she doesn't believe that's why her tree died.

“We’ve never had that problem, and really we haven’t had our heat on that much because it hasn’t been that cold so the heat in our house that’s not an issue and the fireplace we don’t use,“ Dupre says.

Houston Garden Center says they care about the customers who were affected, and are willing to help. You can contact them at 713-218-0860.