Paul King, owner of King and Co tree nursery at Rayne near Braintree, destroyed the trees as he did not want to take any chances over ash dieback.

BBC: Essex

Root cuttings have been nurtured in a nursery to provide "clones" of the parent tree.

BBC: Bid to boost 'charismatic' tree

Andy Cheek, owner of 80-acre Cheek's Nursery and Tree Farms in West Jefferson, N.

WSJ: Fir Real? Christmas Trees in Crisis as Americans Flock to Fakes

Just a couple of weeks ago, as impacted families were still seeking some sense of getting back to normal, one local nursery donated the tree, another chipped in for the lights and a star, and 70-year-old Tom Killeen and his longtime buddies from the area planted it at the end of the street, overlooking the town beach.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House