Skillin's Terry Skillin, of Skillin's Greenhouses in Falmouth, Brunswick and Cumberland, is making sure that all of his businesses are "thinking green" this holiday season. (Photo Kelsey Brimmer)

According to Skillin, all Christmas trees and poinsettias are locally grown and sold. "We've always been very organic here," Skillin said. "During the holiday season, we promote this idea even more to our customers, but we have always been about producing quality gardens organically and being responsible for the environment."

Skillin says that there are hundreds of reasons why buying Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands and poinsettias locally is so important.

"Buying local products has a lot more benefits," he said. "Less fuel is used to transport these trees, therefore reducing our carbon footprint. Buying locally also helps to sustain agriculture in the state of Maine, which has always been a keynote in our local economy. We also use fertilizers very sparingly so there is no run-off."

Growing trees in the area also helps keep the air clean and creates environments for wildlife, according to Skillin.

Once Christmas is over and you're wondering what to do with your tree after you take it down, Skillin recommends finding a way to recycle the tree.

"If people don't have a way of composted the tree or using it for mulch, they can bring the tree to us and we can do it for you," he said. "The mulch will be used on the ground where the trees will be grown."

According to Skillin, it takes eight years to grow a crop like Christmas trees from planting to harvest.

"This land isn't suitable for any other type of crop, unless it is built on," he said. "Using the mulch from recycled trees to grow more trees is good because we can use this otherwise unusable land for agricultural purposes."

Skillin urges anyone interested in buying locally-grown Christmas trees to check out the National Christmas Tree Association's Web site at http://www.christmastree.org/home.cfmt. "The Web site is a great start for people who want a local tree this year," Skillin said. The NCTA promotes the use of real trees over artificial trees for the holiday season and provides a list of many of the places in every state, including Maine, where locally-grown Christmas trees are sold, including at all three of the Skillin's Greenhouse locations.