It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas with the beginning of the sale of fragrant evergreen trees at outlets across the Island.

Efforts to find out how many trees have been imported this year fell down as Government's plant protection officers said they were too busy actually inspecting trees, to calculate how many had been brought in.

Terry Lynn Thompson, the senior plant protection officer said she had inspected so many that she didn't have any idea how many containers she and her staff had gone through. And she said that more containers were due in next Monday and the following Monday. “The numbers are a bit down this year,” she said, but she was unable to say by how much.

The good news is that so far the shipments have been bug free. “Most of them were pre-inspected in Quebec and Vermont,” she said. “I would say about 85 percent of them were. We sent four officers up before the trees were packed. It's a service we offer and the importers took advantage of.”

The Royal Gazette spoke with a few importers who had trees available to the public yesterday. Peter Bromby brought in 1,200 Quebec Balsams most all were sold before they even landed. “I've got about 40 left to sell,” he said early yesterday.

And his prices were the same as other sellers we spoke with, in the region of $10 a foot.

Lindos supermarkets brought in two container loads each with about 168 trees and 72 wreaths.

“The wreaths are a new item this year,” said Zach Moniz manager at Lindos Family Foods in Warwick. “Every year we just had so many people coming by asking for broken branches so that they could make wreaths.”

Mr. Moniz said the new items come in 12, 18 and 24 inch sizes and are priced at $22, $30 and $35 each. Christmas trees at his store ranged in height from five to nine feet and he described the selling scene as “a mad house out there”.

Workers at Gorhams said they had been rushed off their feet selling the 340 trees (two containers) they had on hand yesterday. Expecting another two containers before the end of the season, their smallest trees (between six and seven feet) were selling for $67.50 while the larger, seven to eight foot trees, were being sold for $79.50.

“I've been flooded with calls,” one worker said, while one of the staff actually selling outside said: “It's been busy. Real busy!”

Marcia Pringle was looking for a tree that was around her height, she said: “I am looking for a tree that is about five to six feet tall, just a little taller than myself. I want the branches full, but I still want to see the trunk.

Ms Pringle added: “I do not have any children, but I have a Christmas tree every year. I am not traditional with my colours. My favourite colours are purple and gold. “I usually get my trees from Sousa's across from Heron Bay School, I put my tree up early and keep it up until the end of the year.”

Another Gorhams shopper was Lori Davis and her 14-year-old daughter Logan. As Mrs. Davis finally bought her tree she said: “Michael O'Brien, Gorhams tree salesman, deserves a medal, they are doing a wonderful job. I got my tree here last year and I remember the sales people being so helpful.”