Erik Pauze, Rockefeller Center’s head gardener since 1995, is tasked every year with picking out the perfect tree for the plaza.
Pauze has high criteria for the perfect tree: It has to be a Norway spruce that is at least 70 feet tall and 40 to 42 feet wide, he told TODAY.com in 2022. It also has to be big and stable enough to support the weight of the wires, cables and lights and, of course, the star atop it.
“I look for that big, beautiful shape, nice and green, nice and full, a tree that you would want in your living room for Christmas,” he said at the time.
Pauze told the Rockefeller Center magazine this year that not much has changed in his post over the last three decades but that the process differs a bit year to year.
“Typically, the timeline is that all year, almost every day, I’m thinking about this year’s Tree, next year’s Tree, and maybe the Tree after that,” he said, noting that the search for this year’s tree started in July 2020.
“I saw the beautiful Norway Spruce as I drove down the road, and it was right in front of me,” Pauze said. “I knocked on the door and met Earl Albert. I asked if he would someday consider donating the Tree to Rockefeller Center. His answer was immediately yes.”
