If you're shopping for a fresh, live Christmas tree in southeastern Connecticut, you could take a stroll on Jolly Lane in Waterford, amble among rows of spruces and firs on a former sheep farm in North Stonington, or visit one of the garden centers or civic groups selling fresh-cut evergreens.

"We give people a cart and a saw and they take a walk," said Vinnie Ukleja, who started Ukleja's Christmas Tree Farm in the Quaker Hill section of Waterford with his wife Sue 24 years ago. "We have a lot of repeat customers."

The farm is located on just over six sloped acres, with paths named "Jolly Lane," and "White Spruce Lane" marked with handmade signs, and a red covered bridge at the entrance that Ukleja made with his father and father-in-law 20 years ago.

"It's New England, you know?" he said of the bridge, as he and his wife Sue showed the cemetery boxes, colorful hand-painted Christmas lawn ornaments and other items they were readying for the season. Families started coming the first weekend in November to tag trees, and visitors would peak on the annual family day the second Saturday in December when there would be refreshments and Mr. and Mrs. Claus posing for photos. In addition to the cut-your-own trees, the Uklejas also sell pre-cut trees brought from a farm in New Hampshire.

"Last year was our best year. We sold 525 trees," said Ukleja, who works full-time driving a shuttle bus at Mohegan Sun, but loves being a part-time farmer.

At Pendleton Hill Tree Farm in North Stonington, Dick and Nancy Slimak, with help from their son Charlie, his wife Tonya and their three daughters, are in their 17th year selling cut-your-own trees grown on about four acres of a 22-acre former sheep farm.

"Both my wife and I loved to be outside, and it seemed like a good use of the land, and a source of income when we retired," said Slimak, a retired Coast Guard Academy psychology professor.

This season, they expect to sell about 300 trees, plus wreaths hand made by Nancy Slimak. People started coming to tag trees in early November,

"She wanted a big fat tree, and she found it," said Nancy Slimak, showing a 6-foot blue spruce nearly as round as it was tall. A retired preschool special education teacher, Nancy Slimak handles all the shaping and shearing of the trees, going out early each morning in the spring, summer and fall.

There's more to growing Christmas trees than most people realize, her husband said, noting that takes about 10 years of growth for a tree to reach saleable size.

"It took a lot of work to start this up and to do all the planning and spacing," he said. "You want to pack everything in as much as you can, but you also need to be able to get around the trees. "We get the seedlings when they're two to three years old, and put them in a transplant bed where we water and fertilize them. Then when they're four or five years old, they go out in the field."

For those looking for pre-cut trees, several civic groups in the region sell trees as fundraisers for various charitable causes. One is the Groton Lions Club, which has been selling trees from the Groton Shopping Plaza for the last 20 years or more, said Dave Fausset, immediate past president of the group. The group will sell about 250 Fraser firs grown at a farm in Lebanon, using the money from the sales to support services for the blind and social services programs in Groton, he said. In addition, the group will donate 10 trees to needy families this year.

"We generally come pretty close to selling out," he said.

In Montville, the Lions Club is selling about 300 balsam fir trees from Nova Scotia at the Best Market plaza, a 30-year tradition, said Rozanne Sobieski, president of the group. The funds are used to donate $100 per month to the town food bank, Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets for the needy and support adopt-a-family programs and services for the hearing and visually impaired, she said.

"We have people who come year after year, mainly because it's the Lions Club, or because they've gotten an eye exam through one of the programs we support," she said.

Many of the region's garden centers also sell fresh-cut trees. Among them is Burnett's Country Gardens in Salem, which has about 200 Fraser firs and spruces from farms in Voluntown and Wallingford for sale this season, along with custom-made wreaths, said Adam Thibeault, store manager.

"It's a covered space, so customers don't have to worry about snow and rain on the trees," he said. "We'll bail it and help load it on the car."

J.BENSON@THEDAY.COM