Being frozen, severed from its roots, packed in a container and shipped to Bermuda in the dark from more than a thousand miles away could not stop a determined young group of conifers from clinging to life.

Richard Powell and his wife Anita of Lines Food and Liquor Mart on Ord Road in Warwick have been importing Christmas Trees for the last 15 years, and this year several of the trees sprouted new growth from buds on the end of branches.

Mr. Powell said: "This year I bought in more trees from Vermont than Quebec, and this tree is one from Vermont.'' He said there was much conjecture as to why the trees sprouted, and he spoke with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries who were very surprised and offered their own thoughts on the die-hard evergreen.

One hypothesis is that the trees had a very good growing season last year leaving buds ready to sprout in the spring.

The sap in the trees was frozen when they were cut and they were in a dormant period, but on arrival in Bermuda, they seemed to enjoy the temperate climate, and started to sprout.

And Mr. Powell said a few of his customers called to tell him that their trees had also sprouted.

Mr. Powell explained that his secret to maintaining such a healthy tree was to get it in water as soon as possible.

"We get them in a week after they are cut, and straight away the bottom is put in plain water,'' he said.

Mr. Powell said that a trick that usually works is to put the tree in a bucket of warm water which loosens the sap that has congealed on the bottom, enabling it to drink plenty of water.

One of the trees that has sprouted belonged to Mr. Powell's niece who went away for the New Year's holidays, discovering the miraculous growth when she returned.

He said that the buds on the tree, which have been growing at up to a quarter of an inch a day, had grown between two and two-and-a-half inches and the conifer had dropped hardly any needles. Mr. Powell said that his niece had got her tree very early on the Friday night in mid-December when the trees arrived, meaning it was in water about a week after being cut.

Mr. Powell said the tree must have thought it was spring water which spurred it to wake up and live, and he added that he has never seen or heard of this happening before on the Island.

He said the tree has been out of water since Sunday, but he has put it back in the hope that it will last a while longer as curiosity in the miracle-tree is growing.