He’s an actual conifer-sseur.
A go to to the Rockefeller Heart Christmas tree — dizzyingly tall, dazzlingly lit — is certainly one of NYC’s most treasured vacation rituals.
And behind each sky-high stunner chopped down and introduced into the Massive Apple to make spirits shiny at Christmastime stands only one man with a watch for perfection — most definitely one of many solely individuals toiling away in Midtown’s concrete jungle on the job of Head Gardener.
However that’s precisely what Erik Pauze does at Rockefeller Heart, the place he’s toiled for 4 many years — the 58-year-old Lengthy Islander informed The Submit he scouts “easily” 100 timber in a six-state radius every year, saying fir-geddaboudit! to any variety of lesser specimens earlier than figuring out precisely which one is prepared for prime time.
The 2024 winner that arrived Saturday — and shall be lit with the same old fanfare on Dec. 4 — is a 74-foot-tall, 11-ton Norway Spruce that can also be 43 ft in diameter.
The awe-inspiring decoration hails from the tony Berkshires village of West Stockbridge, Mass. — it’s the primary Bay State magnificence to take delight of place within the fabled plaza since 1959.
The journey from native resident Earl Albert’s yard started again in 2020, when Pauze was within the space taking a look at one other potential candidate, he mentioned.
“I would come up over the course of those four years…and kind of keep an eye on it,” mentioned the pine pinpointer, who has been in command of tree choice since 2010.
He typically discovers future timber — which should be judged sturdy and symmetrical sufficient to deal with a whopping 50,000 vacation lights — within the neighborhood of previous chosen ones or front-runners.
After attending to know the tree and its proprietor — and overseeing the pampering of the longer term prize by ensuring it was nicely taken care of — Pauze mentioned that “this year it was just right.”
“It was perfect,” he enthused.
Season’s greetings
Constructing relationships with households just like the Alberts and attending to know the communities the place they stay is a serious a part of the job, Pauze revealed.
There was the 2021 tree, which got here from Elkton, Md., that college students from a close-by faculty gave a grand send-off by lining native streets, and the one from the little city of Florida, in New York’s Hudson Valley, the place an enormous American flag fluttered to honor the massive present from the small city, again in 2019.
This yr, it was all about hanging out — and ready, generally in rocking chairs on the porch of the Albert house, with a full view of the sprightly spruce.
“We just were rocking back and forth like two old buddies there,” Pauze mentioned. “It was great.”
“I’ve spent so much time up there I was starting to call his home my upstate office,” the evergreen enabler joked, mentioning that he’d even gone to a highschool varsity soccer sport with the household a few Friday nights in the past to see their son play.
“Those are the kind of memories that stick out every year,” he mentioned. “And then getting the tree to Rockefeller Center, putting it up and saying, ‘Man, that looks just as good as it did in the yard.’”
Earl was solely too pleased to donate the whopping piece of forestry to honor his late mom’s love of Christmas, he mentioned.
This week, the brawny biggie was chopped down, lugged onto a 115-foot trailer and pushed south for its last act.
Methods to decide a winner at house
Though far more low profile with just a few white lights and ornaments, Pauze can also be liable for selecting his household’s 6- to 7-foot tree for his or her Suffolk County house every vacation season.
The botanical skilled retailers a lot nearer to house this time — and has but to be acknowledged, he laughed.
“I typically like a Frazier fir for stronger branches at home,” mentioned Pauze.
“You want to make sure it’s not losing any needles. That’s a big point,” he added.
“Sometimes I get a really fresh tree in my house, and it’ll soak up water all the way through New Year’s,” he marveled.
Double- or triple-check {that a} tree has been “freshly cut on the bottom” — which can guarantee it absorbs as a lot water as doable.
