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Beefed-up marketing campaigns and a recession-weary public seeking holiday joy are helping put some jingle in the pockets of Christmas tree farmers.

"Getting a Christmas tree is a real family tradition. I think we hope it's one of the last things people look to cut out of their spending," said Wade Butler of Butler's Orchard in Germantown. Like Butler's, most of Maryland's 200 Christmas tree farms are family-owned.

Most farmers are reporting higher sales than last year, Wilma Muir, president of the 100-member Maryland Christmas Tree Association, wrote in an e-mail. Shoppers also started their tree search earlier and are trending toward paying in cash rather than with credit cards or checks.

"It appears that most families will still follow their usual traditions, but may cut back on how many or the price of gifts they will purchase," Muir said. Muir and her husband, Bob, run Deer Creek Valley Tree Farm in Street.

Muir attributed some of the increases to the association's partnering with the Maryland's Best program to promote trees across the state. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) helped promote the joint campaign at Butler's Orchard this month. The association emphasizes the environmental value of live Christmas trees over artificial ones, reporting that three trees are planted for every tree cut down. All told, association members grow more than three million trees.

The association also received a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture this year to advertise its campaign, along with some help from advertising majors of Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, said association spokesman Roy Eberle of Eberle Farm in Frederick.

"It's a farm product, while artificial trees are primarily foreign imports," Eberle said.

Eberle has been selling pre-cut and live trees for three years, supplementing the operation with the farm's miniature horses and a snowman mascot in the form of his wife. He said that through Saturday, his sales were up 40 percent from last year.

Lisa Gaver, owner of Gaver Tree Farm in Mount Airy, said consumers who buy trees at local farms help support local agriculture.

"You are keeping your local economy in business," she said.

Jim Himel, owner of Timber Falls Tree Farm in Mount Airy, described his farm as "basically recession-proof," given the region's high number of federal workers.

"There is no steel plant laying off workers," Himel said, although he occasionally has a family ask for assistance in purchasing a tree due to financial hardship.

Michael Doyle of Doyle's Christmas Tree Farm in White Hall has taken his operation digital, recently setting up a Web site to bring in new customers. Doyle offers 6,000 Lincoln Douglas firs annually, ranging from $50 to $65.

"The thing about a small operation like ours is that it never grows a great deal, but it doesn't drop, either," said Doyle, who has been selling trees for 23 years.

Linden Hill Farm in Upper Marlboro has been luring back shoppers with $5 coupons for anyone who bought a tree last year. The farm is in its 11th year of tree sales and experienced its best sales ever last year.

"It's been very good. We've been very busy on the weekends," said Sarah Stockstill, a retired teacher who owns the farm with her husband, John. "People really want to cut their own tree. They bring their video camera for the whole thing."

Jarrettsville Nurseries in Bel Air is large enough to go beyond coupon incentives for its guests and throws in family events such as Santa Claus visits, bonfires, hayrides, hot pit beef sales and a candy cane tree.

"We try to provide everything for a traditional tree-cutting visit," said Gary S. Thomas, co-owner of the nursery, which prices its trees from $25 to $60. The nursery also advertises through road signs, newspaper advertisements and word-of-mouth.

While sales are higher this year, Thomas said they still pale in comparison to previous years, when the nursery would sell all of its thousands of trees and have to close early. Last year, the nursery stayed open through Dec. 23.

This year, the weather has hurt sales more than the recession, Gaver said. More rainfall, which created more "beautiful and lush trees," has also resulted in more mud and standing water at local farms, she said.

Because many tree farms sell only on weekends, the heavy rains during two of this month's Sundays have also affected sales, sellers said.

"Things are going better this year than last year, but they're still not as good as three years ago," said Bill Tanner, who owns Tanner's Enchanted Forest in Brandywine with his wife, Lucretia. "What we're selling people is the experience, an outing on a tree farm."

Tanner said some people spend up to four hours searching for and cutting the perfect tree. His trees start at $24.

But farmers also know sales are not solely based on smart marketing.

"A good Christmas tree will sell itself," said Mehrl Mayne, owner of Mayne's Farm in Buckeystown.

O Christmas tree

Some 100,000 people are employed by the Christmas tree industry in the U.S.

Christmas trees can be recycled and used for chipped mulch, fish habitat in waterways and lake and river shoreline stabilization.

People will drive from 5 to 50 miles to buy a real tree, especially if they know they will be able to cut a fresh tree.

One acre of Christmas trees produces the daily oxygen requirement of 18 people.

Source: Maryland Christmas Tree Association

Staff Writer Chris Huntemann contributed to this report.