I suggest going to a garden center or the garden section of a home improvement store and getting a potted conifer there, since they have a larger selection. Colorado Blue Spruce and White fir grow in any soil and are drought-tolerant. If you're lucky enough to find Spanish Fir, Greek Fir, Nordman Fir or Oriental Spruce, those are also survivors. Alberta Spruce suffers in the summer heat, and having a dwarf variety is anti-climactic in my opinion.

you dont mention how big ....

it matters ...

ken

i doubt anything will last in the house thru spring ...

how long??

and what is m/dad's soil???

have them save a couple bags of leaves...

ken

The fluffy, lemon-scented conical yellow ones offered everywhere here are Cupressus macrocarpa cultivars. These are borderline even in USDA 8. The Araucaria heterophylla is effectively subtropical, with minimal frost tolerance.

Mom and Dad have acidic clay soil with patches of sand and a lot of wind. Zone 6a. Looking for a couple foot high Christmas Trees that would live inside until after Christmas and get planted in January or Spring (depending on how severe a winter we have.)

Edlincoln, I used to drive a Toronado...few years ago when that rolled 280k I sprung for a MarkVIII and probably should have changed my log in to MarkVIIIMarc. You drive an air ride Ford?

Not that the car is pertinent lol.

Something about breaking dormancy thanks to a few weeks at seventy degrees and the dry air inside the house makes bringing a live tree inside to decorate then transplant really difficult.

What do you think the minimum amount of time it could be kept inside would be? Any chance if just planting the tree in the fall and lighting it in the yard?

I am impressed it has worked with Hollies. Neat.

They have a sunroom that is effectively an unheated greenhouse...we can move plants there as a "transitional" period to being put outside again. I usually keep these things in the house for about a month. This has consistently worked with big box store hollies, 3 successes one failure. But then, we have had a string of unseasonably warm Decembers.

The trees I was thinking of were one to two feet high...although sometimes my parents put three foot high trees in planters on their front steps. (That is an easier project).

Sounds like I have no chance with the lemon scented trees.