CHRISTMAS tree growers in East Lancashire have been left stumped — by too much snow.

Christopher Day, who grows trees on a three-acre plantation in Whalley, said around 95 per cent of his stock had come from Cumbria and Scotland this year due to the harsh winter.

It is the first time in 20 years he had to order such a high number of supplies from other parts of the country as most of his trees were not fully grown.

He said: “The year has been difficult. It has been extremely cold and the snow has caused us problems.

“Only five per cent of the trees are our own. Most are 12 inches tall so they're not ready to be chopped.

“It's been worse in other parts of the country.”

Meanwhile garden centres across the area stocked up on Christmas trees ready for the festive season.

Beechwood Garden Centre, in Blackburn, supplied festive firs to schools, council offices, businesses and Blackburn Rovers.

Barbara Gaynor, who has worked at the Roman Road centre for seven years, said: “We usually sell about 1,000 trees.

"We tend to get orders in early December. The most popular trees are the Nordmann fir from Norway and the Scottish Fraser."

Anna Barraclough, from Towneley Garden Centre in Burnley, said they sold between 15 and 20 trees per day.

And Natalie Iddon, who with Diane Dewhurst runs Longsight Nursery in Langho, is looking forward to her first Christmas.

She said: “Things are going pretty well.

“We get our trees from Bolton Christmas Trees. They are really good quality.”