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Novelty trees turn tradition on its head

In a downtown Atlanta showroom, decked out for Christmas with golden angels and white lights, one Tannenbaum's appeal is over the top.

"It's funny. It's adorable. It's different," said Susie Grant, shopping for candy canes to decorate her Christmas tree farm in Stockbridge.

JOEY IVANSCO/Cox News Service (enlarge photo) Lisa Hopson of Cumming, Ga., admires a designer-decorated upside-down tree while shopping at Star Decorators Wholesale in Atlanta. Although it may seem to be the latest fad, hanging fir trees upside down reportedly goes all the way back to the Middle Ages, when Europeans did it to represent the Trinity. Retailers like that it frees floor space and allows more ornaments at eye level.

It's upside down.

In what could be the ultimate Christmas tree oddity, topsy-turvy trees are up for grabs at specialty stores, online Christmas tree shops, and even Target. These inverted evergreens are not simply trees turned on their crowns, but unusually designed artificial trees and limbs designed to fight gravity and keep their umbrella-like shape.

Over the years, Christmas trees have gone aluminum, white or pink. They have been sullied by fake snow. But is this latest Christmas tree novelty clever enough to grow roots or will it topple before the New Year? In Star Decorators Warehouse's showroom off of Howell Mill Road, an upside-down version — standing on a weighted base to prevent leaning — is drenched in fringe-like garland and grapefruit-sized ornaments.

Sometimes the trees hang from a ceiling, like an evergreen chandelier.

Already down one dozen, the warehouse expects to unload its entire inventory of three dozen in time for Christmas.

At Target.com, a $399 pre-lit wall upside-down tree was sold out. Hammacher Schlemmer, a high-end apparel and accessory retailer based in New York, has also sold out of its upside-down trees.

But what would Santa think of trees that don't point in his direction?

"This is not the typical tree, but if you want to wow people, this is a wow kind of tree," said Patrick Hopper, merchandising and floral design specialist for Star Decorators Warehouse.

However, you won't find the trees at your neighborhood Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

While retailers sell fake upside-down trees, some — including Grant — are going to give it a whirl with a real pine.

Peter "Treeman" Jenkins, a certified arborist, said upside-down trees go against nature, and would require special steps — like bending the branches and misting the trees with water — to prevent them from drying up and returning to their natural shapes.

"Very, very strange," said Jenkins about the trend.

Bill Quinn, owner of ChristmasTreeForMe.com, said the flipping of the tree started a few years ago as a ploy by high-end shops and antique stores to sell pricey ornaments — the upside down trees gave better view to the ornaments and saved floor space.

He, and others, are cashing in on families buying multiple trees — one for the living room, another for the den and maybe a third mini-tree for the kid's room.

"The upside-down is the one in the great room for parties to give people something to talk about," said Quinn, whose online store has sold thousands of the upside-down trees this holiday season.

"My clients are going crazy over it," said Jamell Young, co-owner of The Purple Door spa in Atlanta about her upside-down tree adorned with decorative birds and hanging from the ceiling. "It's quite effective. And very eye-catching."

Still, many Christmas tree lovers couldn't imagine meddling with a tree's natural tendencies.

"Christmas is very traditional and sacred to me. It's not about the gifts, but the feeling behind it, and the tree is part of it," said stay-at-home mom Kim Gordon of Decatur.

But Grant plans to design a do-it-yourself upside-down tree with a real pine plucked from her Christmas tree farm — Yule Forest Hwy 155 in Stockbridge. She is ready to figure out a way to make it work. And, of course, there's the question about where to put the star or angel.

"But just think about how easy it would be," said Grant, "to put the gifts under the tree."