The first holiday deadline of the year around Phoenix comes before Thanksgiving. It's at 9 a.m. on Monday, November 9, when Ladew Topiary Gardens opens A Ladew Christmas tickets to the general public. Members got a week's head start, with sales opening to them on November 2.
The second start date is the tree farms, and that one is less simple than "they open Black Friday." Ruhl's Tree Farm on Jarrettsville Pike takes cash or checks only. Jones Family Farm closes three days a week. Jarrettsville Nurseries stays open only until its trees run out, and the farm in Upperco opens six days before anyone else. Those rules decide your weekend more than any opening date does.
Here is the 2026 calendar in order:
- Monday, Nov. 9, 9 a.m. Ladew Christmas tickets go on sale to the public.
- Saturday, Nov. 21. Davidson Christmas Tree Farm in Upperco opens for the season.
- Friday, Nov. 27. Black Friday opening at Ruhl's, Jarrettsville Nurseries and Jones Family Farm.
- Tuesday, Dec. 8. Ladew member preview night.
- Wednesday through Saturday, Dec. 9 to 12. A Ladew Christmas, 3 to 7 p.m. each day.
- Friday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m. Maryland Opera's "Sounds of the Season" at the Boordy Vineyards Barn.
- Wednesday, Dec. 16, 6 to 9 p.m. Boordy's Supper Club with Chef Zack Mills of True Chesapeake.
- Dec. 20 to 24. The farms with fixed dates close, starting with Jones and ending with Davidson's precut lot. Jarrettsville Nurseries closes whenever its trees sell out.
Nov. 9 Comes Before Anything Else
Ladew's events calendar lists A Ladew Christmas for Wednesday, December 9 through Saturday, December 12, 3 to 7 p.m. each day, with a member preview night on Tuesday, December 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. The event includes a Christmas market, a holiday greens sale, a decorated Manor House, a holiday meal at the café and live carolers.
Membership changes the price and the timing:
- Nonmember admission: $25 for adults, $6 for children ages 2 to 12.
- Member admission: $15 for adults, $4 for children ages 2 to 12, with the same prices on preview night.
- Ticket limits: every membership level can buy up to six tickets in total. Individual memberships get one adult member discount. Dual, Family, Grandparent and higher levels get two. Young adults and children are covered under the membership.
For a household of two adults and two children, nonmember tickets come to $62 and member tickets to $38. The bigger difference is timing. Member sales opened November 2, and they're the only ones who get the December 8 preview night. Everyone else gets four evenings and starts buying on November 9.
Black Friday on Jarrettsville Pike
The closest of the farms is on Jarrettsville Pike in Phoenix. Ruhl's Tree Farm at 14430 Jarrettsville Pike is a cut-your-own farm founded by Robert A. Ruhl, a retired Special Forces Green Beret lieutenant colonel. Four generations of his family now work there. It grows Canaan fir, Nordmann fir, Douglas fir, blue spruce and balsam fir. The farm provides saws, you can bring your own, and staff will help with cutting and carrying.
Ruhl's has the simplest price list and the strictest payment rule of any farm on this list. Every cut-your-own tree is $100, and the farm takes cash or checks only, with an ATM on site. It also sells pine roping at $35 for 25 feet, $65 for 50 feet and $85 for 75 feet, plain 22-inch wreaths for $30 and decorated ones for $45. At those prices, a tree, a decorated wreath and 50 feet of roping come to $210 in cash.
The farm's site lists hours of 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Black Friday and weekends. In 2026, Black Friday is November 27. The site doesn't put a year on that schedule, so check it again Thanksgiving week before you head out. Going by the posted hours, Ruhl's is a Black Friday and weekend stop, and Saturday afternoon light ends earlier than the 4:30 closing time suggests.
Four Farms, Four Sets of Rules
Up Jarrettsville Pike and past Phoenix, the other farms open around the same time and run on very different schedules.
| Farm | 2026 season | Hours | Rule to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruhl's Tree Farm, 14430 Jarrettsville Pike, Phoenix | Black Friday and weekends; no year posted | 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | $100 per tree, cash or check only |
| Jarrettsville Nurseries, 1041 Holy Cross Rd, Street | Opens Friday, Nov. 27, 9 a.m. | Weekdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; weekends 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Open until inventory sells out |
| Jones Family Farm, 3500 Prospect Rd, Street | Nov. 27 to Dec. 20 | Thu–Fri noon to 5 p.m.; Sat–Sun 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Closed Monday through Wednesday |
| Davidson Christmas Tree Farm, 1101 Emory Church Rd, Upperco | Opens Saturday, Nov. 21 | Mon–Thu noon to 5 p.m.; Fri–Sun 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Fields close at 4:30 p.m. |
Jarrettsville Nurseries is celebrating its 65th season. Opening day is Friday, November 27, at 9 a.m., and the farm stays open daily until the trees are gone. Fraser firs start at $115, and the farm's listed prices include sales tax. Its directions from Towson are a familiar route from here. Take Jarrettsville Pike north through Jacksonville to the blinking light at Madonna, turn right on Route 23 into Jarrettsville, then turn left on Route 165 and continue to Holy Cross Road. Since the season ends when the inventory does, the farm doesn't give a closing date at all.
Jones Family Farm has the opposite setup: a fixed closing date and fewer open days. The Street farm on Prospect Road sells choose-and-cut, precut and balled-and-burlap trees from November 27 through December 20, 2026. It's open Thursday and Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and closed Monday through Wednesday. If you can't make it there by December 20, Jones's Edgewood farm market at 2107 Philadelphia Road sells precut and balled-and-burlap trees daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through December 22.
Davidson Christmas Tree Farm in Upperco, Carroll County, is a longer drive and the only one of these farms that opens before Thanksgiving, on Saturday, November 21. Cut-your-own runs through December 23, and the precut lot stays open through December 24. The fields close at 4:30 p.m., precut sales continue until 5 p.m., and the farm is closed on Thanksgiving Day. It accepts all credit cards, which makes it the easiest of the four to visit without stopping for cash.
What the Calendar Looks Like on a Weekday
If you can only get out on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday after work, your choices shrink fast. Ruhl's posts only Black Friday and weekend hours. Jones is closed those three days. That leaves Jarrettsville Nurseries, open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Davidson, open Monday through Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. with the fields closing at 4:30. In late November and December, a 5 p.m. close means a weekday visit has to happen in daylight, so for most people it's a vacation day or a Saturday.
Weekends spread out more. All four farms post Saturday and Sunday hours, starting as early as 8:30 a.m. at Davidson and 9 a.m. at Ruhl's, Jarrettsville Nurseries and Jones. The weekend after Thanksgiving is the only stretch when all four are open on the same days.
Closing dates are staggered too. Jones's Street farm finishes on Sunday, December 20, the Edgewood market on December 22, Davidson's cut-your-own fields on December 23, and its precut lot on Christmas Eve. Jarrettsville Nurseries closes whenever its last tree sells, which could be any day.
December Evenings in the Long Green Valley
When the tree is up, the rest of the December calendar is about evenings, and two of the dated ones are at the Boordy Vineyards Barn, 12820 Long Green Pike.
On Friday, December 11, at 7 p.m., Maryland Opera brings "Sounds of the Season" to the barn. The holiday program includes the Act 1 finale of La Bohème. That's a Friday in the middle of Ladew's run, so the 3-to-7 p.m. garden window and the 7 p.m. curtain fall on the same date.
On Wednesday, December 16, from 6 to 9 p.m., Boordy's December calendar lists a Supper Club with Chef Zack Mills of True Chesapeake at $160. It's the only event on the vineyard's December 2026 calendar.
When neighbors ask us which farm is open on a Tuesday or which one takes a card, the Dan Cohen Homes team answers the same way we handle a closing: dates and rules first. If a move, a downsizing or a sale overlaps the holidays this year, we can work around the same calendar. Get a Free Consultation, and we'll plan the transaction so it doesn't cut into your December.
